October 17, 2026

Van Bloomen – Time Is Running Slow (Ep – Pro Noize / Dark Dimensions)

Van Bloomen – "Time Is Running Slow" album cover
🇺🇦 Side-Line stands with Ukraine - Show your Support

Genre/Influences: Electro-Wave.

Format: Digital, Cassette.

Background/Info: Nearly two years after the debut album “Geist”, German artist Marcel Nickels strikes back with three new songs featured at “Time Is Running slow”.

Content: Van Bloomen deals with a retro sound reminding the 80s; it has something Electro-Wave like with extra contemporary elements on top. The main difference with the album is that Marcel is now singing on two songs. The last cut is an instrumental one. A guest guitarist has been invited to play on the title track.

+ + + : This EP reveals an interesting evolution in sound. The retro synth elements are cool and especially at “Creepy Guy”, which sounds also darker. The vocals are adding that little extra to the work.

– – – : This artist is maybe missing a few little details to get more recognition, but this EP is a step in the right direction.

Conclusion: “Time Is Running Slow” is music for 80s nostalgia with some refreshing elements on top.

Best songs: “Creepy Guy”, “Lorazepam”.

Rate: 7.

Listen to “Time Is Running Slow”:

Artist: www.facebook.com/VanBloomen

Label: www.darkdimensions.de /  www.facebook.com/pages/Dark-Dimensions-Label-Group/486014725206

About Van Bloomen

Van Bloomen is the solo project of German musician Marcel Nickels, working out of Düsseldorf with technoid synth and wave electronics.

The project started with the self-released green cassette EP “1987” in 2019. Pro Noize, part of the Dark Dimensions Label Group, released the debut album “Geist” on CD in 2020 and issued “Time Is Running Slow” on 3 December 2021 as a limited numbered cassette single. Its three tracks are “Time Is Running Slow”, “Creepy Guy” and “Lorazepam”. Andi of the Stuttgart post-punk band Phileas Fogg plays guitar on the title track, and Nickels sings on the title track and on “Creepy Guy”.

Van Bloomen tracks also appeared on the compilations “Sonic Seducer Cold Hands Seduction Vol. 217”, “Orkus! Compilation 150” and “Elektroanschlag 2020”, all in 2020.

Support Side-Line

More people read Side-Line than ever, and there is still no paywall and no advertising. Readers pay for it instead - from $5 a month.

Select a Donation Option (USD)

Enter Donation Amount (USD)
Why we ask

Advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. Unlike many news organisations we have not put up a paywall, and we refuse to add annoying advertising, so we need to ask for your help. Side-Line’s independent journalism takes time, money and hard work to produce, and we do it to push the artists we like, who are equally fighting to survive.

Handled by PayPal.