Dark Entries are moving further into the realms of synth wave obscurity. The San Francisco imprint has trekked across the Atlantic for its latest pair of releases. Borghesia are an EBM duo from former Yugoslavia. Alongside Borghesia Dark Entries are in Denmark, reissuing material by experimental synth enthusiasts End of Your Garden and indie punks De Må Være Belgiere.
The duo of Aldo Ivančic and Dario Seraval came together in the city of Ljubljana in 1982. Borghesia was born. Musical influences, growing up in socialist Yugoslavia of the 1970s and 80s, were more than likely difficult for the group to stumble upon. Nevertheless, the two friends became interested in the growing new wave and synth pop scene, developing their own style that would later fall into the genre of EBM. In 1985 their debut album Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti hit the shelves. Alongside the pair, Borut Kržišnik and Nina Server were drafted in to help out on synths and guitar. A lo tempo work of thick bassy and breathy samples is at the track’s core, with some drum machine industrialism for good measure. Strings are at the central to “A.R.”, with powerful vocals accompanying 808 beats. The duo utilise string and synth unlike many other EBM groups, with the two sounds juxtaposing each other as in “Kdo Je Ugasnil Luč” and the terse “Brisk Vomit.” “Jaz (Pesem B)” is an unnerving piece, with synths and samples worked together into an unsettling and almost hypnotising piece. The flipside opens with the DJ’s choice “On.” The track is a wonderfully addictive piece of minimal synth, with catchy Korg Polysix line working in harmony with beats and vocals. The Yugoslavian pair toyed with what these new analogue machines could do. Samples are employed to give an added effect, such as in Previše Tenzije. The album throughout has quite a primal feel to it. Laconic currents that lie next to aural frenzies with the listener being driven down hazy avenues of distortion coupled with playful synth compositions.
Dark Entries eleventh release is a Danish split, one side new wave and the other post punk. End Of Your Garden and De Må Være Belgiere released 7″s on the Danish Replik Muzick in the early 1980s, being picked up in 2006 for full album reissues on Tryghed & Tristesse. Dark Entries have taken the first 7″s released by both acts and split them across one LP. End Of Your Garden start the album with “Celebration.” A familiar sounding lush piece of downtrodden synth wave with violin strings adding agony to the angst. “Don’t Walk Away in Silence” is a much more minimal affair. Female vocals substitute male for this stripped back piece, machine noise twinned with some serious gloom. Next up is the fast paced and wonderfully uplifting “The Autumn.” The track has all the makings of a great piece of synthwave. The melody is catchy without being too kitsch, it’s full of energy without being too full on. The melancholy comes full circle with “A Displaced House In The North,” a despondent and dejected work that has stoic Scandinavian lilt embedded. The flipside, dedicated to De Må Være Belgiere and Er Det Tirsdag Må Det Være Belgien, is a post punk affair. In a similar vein to The Cure of Joy Division this quartet offer up three tracks. The band were short-lived, breaking up in 1984, and here is their original release back on vinyl some 27 years later.”Cirkler” is a brash and powerful track, with guitar and bass driving the piece. “Ingentid” has a moodier edge than its predecessor, with the vocals exploring a degree of pain and uncertainty that escapes in the final track “Synsforstyrrelse.” The group were inspired by the sound of Factory Records, and this comes through in the blue tones of the tracks.
Both releases have echoes of one another, but are marked by contrast. Borghesia are one of the biggest groups to come from former Yugoslavia, though they do languish in some Western obscurity. The two central columns of the group, Ivančic and Seraval, would later turn to activism, managing to turn sexual freedom into an important political issue by creating the New Slovenian Art scene. Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti is not only a blueprint of EBM, it is a musical document of former Yugoslavia. Borghesia employed the synthesizer as a tool of both experimentation and protest. Synthwave from behind the Iron Curtain tells a different story to that which came from 80s Europe. End Of Your Garden and De Må Være Belgiere are the other side of the same coin. Denmark of the 80s, in comparison to Yugoslavia, is a land of unhampered experimentation and openness. Interestingly, both groups address similar themes; freedom of expression, the rise of the individual and with it neo liberalism. But, both could not have come from more different angles. Ljubav Je Hladnija Od Smrti comes from a time and place where formula and the status quo were more than norm. End Of Your Garden and did De Må Være Belgiere did not. These varied records illustrate that inspiration and experimentation are endemic, and not administered.
Both releases are out now on Dark Entries. [Listen & Purchase]
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