Besides his earlier projects like Cyanide and Unitary, Johan Hansson has in recent years focused primarily on We The North. Two albums were released on EK Product, followed by a self-released album in 2020. It’s been some time since the project unveiled new material, but now we are treated to this opus containing ten tracks plus five remixes.

We The North remains faithful to the familiar elements that defined its earlier releases. This is Electro-Pop that I would place somewhere between Erasure and The Northern Territories — on one hand sweet and warm, yet on the other, ethereal and slightly melancholic. Some pieces would fit perfectly within a Cinematic-Pop framework. The songs are meticulously crafted, with great attention to detail and refined arrangements. The remixes bring additional variety, with the most unexpected and original contribution coming from the Dark-Ambient project Desiderii Marginis.

All in all, this is a highly enjoyable and perfectly polished album — though I do find myself missing a true climax or standout hit. (Rating:7).

Listen to “To The End”:

About We The North

We The North is the solo project of Swedish musician Johan Hansson, also active as Unitary and Cyanide. Its debut album, “Dayblind”, arrived in 2016 on Space Race Records and included a remix by Mr. Kitty. Two later albums appeared through EK Product, followed by a self-released album in 2020 and a 2018 split EP with TourdeForce. “Love + Death”, issued on Nadanna, presents ten tracks and five remixes and marks the project’s return after several years.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Genre/Influences: Italo-Disco, Electro-Pop.

Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.

Background/Info: Swedish artist Tobias Bernstrup once defined himself as ‘Queer, Artist, Futuristic, Italo-Gothic, Synth-Pop, Musician and Performer’. “Petrichor” is the artist’s sixth full length album featuring eleven songs plus seven remixes.

Content: Entering “Petrichor” is a way to discover a styled Electro-Pop album with explicit elements of Italo-Disco. It’s not a coincidence that one of the songs is a cover version of Red 7’s “Heartbeat”. But the work is more diversified although always accomplished with strong melody lines, danceable rhythms and Bernstrup’s clear, sensual timbre of voice.

Remixes have been provided by SanFranDisko, DMT Berzerk, Ash Code, Supermatik, Qual, Xeno & Oaklander and We The North.

+ + + : The previous album “Technophobic:” already was a great and successful work. This new opus only confirms the writing skills of the artist; Bernstrup has a nose to compose danceable, styled, sexy and melodic Electro-Pop. Sometimes moving into pure Italo-Disco, it all comes together in a harmonious and fully accomplished work. This is a new opus that will appeal for 80s lovers. The multiple subtle effects and arrangements are getting us back to the most happy Electro-Pop formats, but still to the ‘kitsch’ of Italo-Disco. Four singles have been already released; songs you’ll (re)discover at “Petrichor”, but there are more potential singles and hits and especially “Loderunner” is a favorite one. Previously released singles like “Stranger” and “Only One”, both are brilliant cuts as well. Among the remixes I especially recommend listening to DMT Berzerk and Supermatik.

– – – : I don’t see real minus points, but “Technophobic” remains my favorite opus.

Conclusion: I’ve always liked the word ‘petrichor’, which means ‘a pleasant smell that frequently accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather’. It now became a beautiful metaphor to define the sound of Tobias Bernstrup.

Best songs: “Loderunner”, “Stranger”, “Only One”, “Private Eyes”, “Stranger” + “Private Eye – DMT Berzerk Remix”, “Only One – Supermatik Remix”.

Rate: 8½.

Artist: www.bernstrup.com / www.facebook.com/tobias.bernstrup.3

Label: www.facebook.com/NadannaItaloSynthRecords

About Tobias Bernstrup

Tobias Bernstrup is a Swedish musician, performer and visual artist, listed on Discogs as based in Gothenburg. His recorded output runs from "Images Of Love" in 1998 through "27" in 2002, "Killing Spree" in 2005, "Hitman" and "1984" in 2009, "Strange Land" and "Sing My Body Electric" in 2011, "Romanticism" in 2015, "Utopia" in 2017 and "Technophobic" in 2018, with the singles "Private Eye" and "Ardore" following in 2020.

"Petrichor" was issued by Nadanna in 2021 as a limited CD and as a limited, numbered vinyl LP pressed by Record Industry, alongside the digital edition. It carries eleven songs and seven remixes, with contributions from SanFranDisko, DMT Berzerk, Ash Code, Supermatik, Qual, Xeno & Oaklander and We The North.

Bernstrup spoke to Side-Line about his approach to electronic pop in the 2019 ‘Click Interview’ with Tobias Bernstrup. His seventh album, "Shadow Dancer", followed on Nadanna in 2025 and is covered in a later Tobias Bernstrup interview.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-Pop, Future-Pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: One year after the EP “Wake Up” featuring Henrik Iversen (NamNamBulu), German Electro-Pop project Elektrostaub strikes back with a new EP featuring Patrik Hansson (Vanguard, Uncreated). This new EP is an appetizer to Patrick Knoch’s announced album “Reliance”.

Content: The EP features 12 tracks; “We Are Dreamers” is the title song featuring guest vocals by Patrik Hansson. The song sounds as a pure fusion between classical Electro-Pop and heavier Future-Pop influences. The chorus has something powerful and catchy. Remixes have been made by People Theatre, Spektralized, We The North, Excubitors and Uncreated (solo-project of Patrik Hansson). One song features female vocals by Claudia Uhle (X-Perience).

The other song left “Loneliness” has been accomplished together with !Distain resulting in pure Electro-Pop; catchy and somewhat melancholic. Remixes have been accomplished by Technoir, Digital Factor and also People Theatre while there also is a wafting version without drums as the last cut.

+ + + : The more you listen to “We Are Dreamers” the more you gone like it. It’s a cool Electro-Pop driven song with a great vocalist on top. It sounds catchy and danceable while we also get a few cool remixes like the one by People Theatre, but also the boosted edit by Uncreated (a project which is maybe better than Vanguard) and more Future-Pop driven remix by Excubitors. The B-side “Loneliness” is another potential title track. It sounds more ‘classical’, but still totally accomplished. 

– – – : I expected a bit more from the remixes of “Loneliness”.

Conclusion: Without setting the Electro-Pop scene alight, Elektrostaub has achieved a new EP, which is definitely more convincing than its predecessor.

Best songs: “We Are Dreamers – Radio Edit”, “We Are Dreamers – Excubitors Mix”, “We Are Dreamers – Uncreated Mix”, “Loneliness – Club Edit”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www.elektrostaub.de / www.facebook.com/Elektrostaub

Label: www.alfa-matrix.com / www.facebook.com/Alfa.Matrix Read the news on ‘We Are Dreamers’.

About Elektrostaub

Elektrostaub is the project of German musician Patrick Knoch, who signed to Alfa Matrix in December 2020 with the “Wake Up” EP featuring Henrik Iversen of NamNamBulu.

“We Are Dreamers”, released 9 March 2021, features Vanguard singer Patrik Hansson and follow-up single “Loneliness” with !Distain. Knoch previewed the announced album “Reliance”, which arrived that October with an extended list of guest vocalists.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Although Elektrostaub’s previous “Wake Up” EP featuring Henrik Iversen is only out since December, the project already kicks back with yet another new collaborative EP: “We Are Dreamers” (available now via Bandcamp). “We Are Dreamers'” is the second EP taken from Elektrostaub’s forthcoming new album “Reliance”.

This time, he joined hands with Patrik Hansson of Swedish Electropop band Vanguard for an upbeat club synth pop song. Alternate remixes of the songs were created by People Theatre, Spektralized, We The North and Uncreated. Elektrostaub on top recorded a totally different version featuring the female voice of Claudia Uhle from X-Perience fame.

For the B-side song “Loneliness”, Elektrostaub aka Patrick Knoch worked again with his good old partners in crime from !Distain. Besides the club mix and the ‘no drum’ edit of this song, we also get more laidback and introspective interpretations of this catchy song by People Theatre as well as from label mates Technoir and Digital Factor.

In total you get 12 tracks which you can check out below on Bandcamp (and other platforms in the next weeks). Read the review of ‘We Are Dreamers’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Italian musician Christian Ryder from TourdeForce and the Swedish artist Johan Hansson, protagonist of the projects We The North and Unitary, have joined up for a new project. “Split” is the title of a first EP from We The North / TourdeForce. The project mixes classic electro-synthpop with electro-wave on the 7 tracks you can find on this EP.

Here’s the video for the track “The Last Song”. The EP itself will be out via Space Race Records later in December.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, body-pop.

Background/Info: Johan Hansson (previously involved with Unitary and Cyanide) unleashed the second full length of his newest project We The North. The in 2016 released debut work “Dayblind” revealed an interesting mix between electro-pop and EBM.

Content: “Unhealing” moves on there where the previous album stopped. You get the same ingredients merging melodic pop lines together with harder EBM bass lines. Johan Hansson sings in a pure pop way. Globally speaking the new songs sound a little less hard than the debut work, but you also will hear a few quieter and evasive passages. We The North strikes back with 9 brand-new cuts plus one remix by TourDeForce.

+ + + : I already liked the previous work (EP included), but “Unhealing” moves a step further featuring a styled, well-crafted and mature production. There’s a perfect balance between the catchy pop elements and harder EBM sequences. The vocals are sweet, but captivating like polishing the pop inspiration of the work. I also noticed great and somewhat vintage like melody lines. “Us” is a beautiful song illustrating this accomplishment. I’m definitely into the harder cuts.

– – – : The only thing I’m missing is an absolute hit. And that’s maybe what We The North featured at their debut album with the song “Understand Me”.

Conclusion: We The North is a noticeable new comer at the wider fields of electro-pop music. This band is not exactly reinventing a style where everything has already been experimented with, but “Unhealing” is a cool, noticeable and therefore recommended production.

Best songs: “Us”, “Never Alone”, “Standing By”, “Unhealing”, “Nightcall”.

Rate: (8).

Band: www.facebook.com/wethenorthofficial

Label: www.spaceracerecords.com / www.facebook.com/SpaceRaceRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, future-pop.

Background/Info: Richard Abdeni and Anthony Stuart set up Les Anges De La Nuit in 2003. This American duo got some recognition being directly signed to Infacted Recordings where they released two albums. After a hiatus of 9 years they struck back in 2015 self-releasing “Vanity Will Perish”. It’s now time for the fourth album of the band.

Content: The sound and influences of the band haven’t changed that much. Les Anges De La Nuit is inspired by a dark electro-pop format mixed with some future-pop elements. The main characteristic of the work are the lyrics sung now French and then in English.

The work is carried by strong melodic sequences. The last song of the album is a cool clubby-track. But there also is another song that will catch the attention for featuring Johan Hansson (We The North, Cyanide, Unitary).

+ + + : Les Anges De La Nuit aren’t reinventing the electro-pop standards, but I have to admit they’ve constructed a very own and recognizable sound. You rapidly recognize the melodic sequences and cool tunes. Some of the songs are driven by hard, pumping kicks, getting the work pretty danceable. Especially the last song, which is a remix of “Cette Jolie Brune” is a great apotheosis, but only available on the digital format of the album (and not on this CD). The French lyrics inject something special to the work, which you don’t exactly expect from an American formation.

– – – : My single point of discussion is the similarity between all songs. Once you’ve heard the first track of the work, you rapidly get the impression all songs are made from the same mold.

Conclusion: I belief that Les Anges De La Nuit is a band deserving more recognition. They maybe haven’t composed the ultimate ‘hit’ thus far although their work remains entertaining and different from the average electro-pop standards.

Best songs: “Cette Jolie Brune – Radio Edit Digital Bonus Track”, “Ma Folie, L’Infini”, “Vanity Fin (2017)”, “Cette Jolie Brune”, “Break Us Apart”.

Rate: (7).

Band & Label: http://lesangesdelanuit.net/index.php / www.facebook.com/LADLNband

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Background/Info:

Read the news on ‘Dayblind’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Read the review of ‘Dayblind’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, body-pop.

Background/Info: Space Race Records again seems to have found a new promising band active in the wider electro-pop fields. Hailing from Scandinavia and set up as a solo-project by Johan Hansson, the artist describes his music as ‘Nordic Noir’. “Endemic” is the first official release featuring 4 songs and 4 remixes.

Content: The sound clearly mixes electro-pop elements and a few harder body-inspired influences. The music is well-crafted and doesn’t sound at all as a first recording. You’ll notice deep, alluring bass lines and some melodic loops while Hansson vocals are clear and powerful. A few melancholic atmospheres can be heard as well.

Among the 4 remixes I especially noticed great contributions from ES23 and especially Mika Rossi (Autodafeh).

+ + + : “Endemic” is a successful debut revealing 2 great songs (cf. “Lost Inside” and “Understand Me”), which are quite elaborated and masterly produced. There’s a perfect match between the music and the vocals. The remix of “Lost Inside” by Mika Rossi is a great piece of minimal electro-pop.

– – – : I can’t say to have heard a real potential hit and that’s a pity. We The North clearly reveals a solid potential carried by a mature production, but I’m missing an extra catchy touch.

Conclusion: “Endemic” features several enjoyable songs and cool remixes as well. I’m looking forward to the debut full length to get a better idea about the real potential of the band.

Best songs: “Lost Inside”, “Understand Me”, “Understand Me – Mika Rossi Remix”.

Rate: (7).

Band: www.facebook.com/wethenorthofficial

Label: www.spaceracerecords.com / www.facebook.com/SpaceRaceRecords

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com