It feels like for as long as we've been a digital publication we've monitored the output of Sweden's Death and Vanilla. It began with Beko free release in 2009, calling the band “supple synth pop with a backbone.” Here we are, four years later and the backbone is unhindered by senectitude. Death and Vanilla are still one of our favorite bands with albums now spanning Hands In The Dark, Kalligrammofon, and most recently Moon Glyph.
Let's begin the round-up of Death and Vanilla happenings with the Moon Glyph cassette, Vampyr. Recorded at the Fantastik Film Festival, the cassette is a semi-improvised performance recorded during a screening of Carl Theodor Dreyers’ Vampyr (1932). For the performance D&V expanded into a quintet, incorporating organs, glockenspiel, vibraphonette, moog, samples, bass, guitar and zither. The result is a soundtrack marrying sci-fi to jazz with a psychedelic paranoia.
Purchase the Vampyr CS at Moon Glyph.
Hands In The Dark practically began with Death and Vanilla three years ago. The self-titled debut EP was pressed to 100 CDs, going out of print quickly. To celebrate the label's three-year anniversary, HITD is re-issuing the Death and Vanilla EP on vinyl January 8, 2014 with brand new album art, exclusive bonus tracks on the b-side, and a poster. The original EP is streaming at Death and Vanilla's Bandcamp and a new album is in the works for 2014.
