Haus Arafna - You

Dracula black industrial synth austerity from the Galakthorrö archives now back in print for the first time in 12 years. Mr and Mrs Arafna have been at this kind of thing for a few decades now, birthed from the European power electronics scene of the late 80s but broad enough in approach to incorporate the more sophisticated tropes of cold wave and minimal electronics. You bears close comparison with their output as November Novelet, an outlet for a more streamlined version of their industrial glamour, and in 2010 arrived when this kind of music was experiencing a renaissance of sorts post electro-clash and amidst the popularity of Pieter Schoolwerth's Wierd endeavour. Still, this isn't entirely straightforward or easily digestible business, managing to retain a good few of the hallmarks of their industrial noise past - aggressive white noise blasts trade space with sinister spoken work intonations placed atop the whirr of minimal synth and skeletal drum machine arrangement. Take the late album one-two of Colony Collapse and Independent as the perfect distillation of this contrast, a bridge between Hospital Productions extremes and darkwave elan that pushes away as much as it draws you in. Seriousest ever serious.