Impure Wilhelmina breathe new life into the classics of King Crimson, The Cure and Serge Gainsbourg; »Dead Decades« EP out October 6th via Season Of Mist!
Swiss dark metal/post-hardcore outfit Impure Wilhelmina share new music video for Serge Gainsbourg cover »La Javanaise« taken from their upcoming EP, »Dead Decades«, set to release on October 6th, 2023 via Season Of Mist.
Video by Guilherme Henriques.
Tracklist:
01. La Javanaise (Serge Gainsbourg cover)
02. Fallen Angel (King Crimson cover)
03. Plainsong (The Cure cover)
04. Nebula
05. Ignoramus
Courtesy of Season Of Mist:
Impure Wilhelmina pull from a wide range of influences. For 25 years now, the Geneva quartet have rolled hardcore riffs, velveteen cleans, atmospheric sludge and gloomy melodies into post-metal that’s as sharp and versatile as a Swiss Army Knife. No wonder they’ve earned comparisons to KEN mode, Paradise Lost and The Smiths.
Even the band’s new EP casts a wide net. »Dead Decades« includes covers of King Crimson, The Cure and Serge Gainsbourg. Head over to the Season Of Mist YouTube channel and watch as Impure Wilhelmina flip the smoky, after-dark romance of »La Javanaise« into a lovestruck indie rock triumph.
“As soon as we thought about doing covers, this song came to mind,” the band says. “Serge Gainsbourg, one of the major figures of twentieth-century French music, has been around us for a very long time, even if his musical universe is far removed from our own. »La Javanaise« is one of his greatest (and least subversive) classics, published in 1963. This heavy cover of a song written before metal even existed contrasts with the light-hearted romanticism of the lyrics. It fits perfectly with the spirit of Impure Wilhelmina. For the video, we used archive footage of Paris in the 1960s to match the atmosphere. The whole thing was beautifully edited by Guilherme Henriques and the result is stunning!”
Photo by Mehdi Benkler
Along with the three covers, the new EP also includes two unreleased cuts from their recent album »Antidote«.
»Dead Decades« comes out on October 6, 2023. Pre-order it HERE.
For 25 years, Impure Wilhelmina has been creating a singular music on the borders of rock and metal. The Geneva quartet has never been afraid to reinvent itself and to push back the stylistic barriers, without ever losing its strong identity. Intensity, melody, power and melancholy are the key words that guide the band’s discography, shaping record after record a subtle blend of metal, post-hardcore, new wave and indie rock sounds.
Impure Wilhelmina has experienced many line-up changes over the years around Michael Schindl, singer-guitarist, main composer and lyricist. Founded in 1996, the group quickly built a reputation in the local, then Swiss and European independent scenes.
Impure Wilhelmina has regularly collaborated with sound engineers and producers Serge Morattel (»I Can’t Believe I Was Born In July« – 2001, »L’Amour, La Mort, L’Enfance Perdue« – 2004, »Prayers And Arsons« – 2008) and Raphaël Bovey (»Black Honey« – 2014, »Radiation« – 2017). These five albums illustrate the constant musical evolution of the band, which from a very dark and metal base gradually incorporates more rock elements. The clear vocals occupy an increasingly important place in the compositions, reinforcing the intensity and melodic depth.
In 2015, thanks to the great response to »Black Honey«, Impure Wilhelmina signed with the reference metal label Season Of Mist, which published »Radiation« two years later in 2017. Skilfully navigating between melodies and dissonances, always at the service of raw emotion, this sixth album was unanimously acclaimed by the press and the public, opening the doors to wider recognition.
After intensely touring all over Europe to promote »Radiation«, the band received great reward by being one of the four recipients of the 2019 grants for contemporary music awarded by the City of Geneva. This support has allowed Impure Wilhelmina to approach their new album with confidence and the will to develop their sound and get out of their comfort zone. The band put a lot of efforts in the elaboration and production of its new songs, notably by calling on Yvan Bing, producer and sound engineer, to accompany the four musicians throughout the creation process of the album. This successful collaboration began in the summer of 2019 and continued for over a year, giving rise to Impure Wilhelmina’s seventh album, »Antidote«.
In the context of the pandemic that marked part of the recording of »Antidote« and its long completion, this title also resonates in a very particular way. Welcome to this journey into uncharted musical lands.
Impure Wilhelmina is:
Michael Schindl – Vocals, guitar
Mario Togni – Drums
Sébastien Dutruel – Bass
Diogo Almeida – Guitar
Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well