When Darkwave music was running high in the ’90s, one of the bands was a German set known as Chandeen. Beginning with founder Harald Löwy, the band not only went through a series of personnel changes but also dabbled with sound changes as well. Over time, Chandeen released thirteen albums and EPs, including a holiday collection issued in 2015 called Winter Reverbs. (That album is a superb holiday collection of tracks with a melancholy but holiday essential sound attached to the songs. If you’re a fan of Christmas music, I suggest you listen here. From here, you can find their other albums and tracks.)
Recently, Chandeen has re-emerged with a new 5-track EP called Rogue (issued July 28, 2018). For the makeup of the band, Harald Löwy is present, as is Julia Beyer, who has been with the band since 2008’s Teenage Poetry.
Rogue‘s five songs start with a short folk-styled instrumental dependent on guitar. But as it transitions to the remaining four songs, there is the familiar melancholic mood made all the more captivating by Beyer’s atmospheric voice. In “Otherworld”, it’s thick and determined over a bed of dreamy but dark music; in “Tropical Depression”, it’s resonant over a heavy but minimalistic techno pulse that sounds like blood stubbornly flowing through veins. It’s the appropriately placed highlight of the all too short EP.
The remaining two tracks, “Where The Heart Is”, and “All Is Still”, are tender dream-pop explorations. “Where The Heart Is” ramps up from its soft beginnings into a strong piano-based instrumental but ends as it begins. “All Is Still” ends the EP with a reminder that time is quiet and resolute, beautiful but determined.
I’ll leave you with a stunning cover by Chandeen, circa 2002 from their popular Bikes And Pyramids album. The song is a pleasant and memorable German Pop remake of Pink Floyd’s Syd Barret-penned classic, “Apples and Oranges”. If it doesn’t interest you, I’d be surprised. It will be followed by a new song from the Rogue EP, “Tropical Depression”.
Rogue is a promising return by Chandeen, one that I hope will be added to in time.