Throughout a fruitful career that started back in 1985, THE BREATH OF LIFE do not only have countless tours and concerts under their belt but can also be proud of their rich and diversified discography characterized by their obsessional desire to constantly reinvent themselves and explore new sonic realms. A creative originality that always made them stand out as a unique entity on the dark scene and turned them into one of the most well-known cold wave gothic rock bands from Belgium.
It's of course with great honour and magic in the eyes that Spleen+ (division of Alfa Matrix) welcomes Isabelle Dekeyser and her gang to their growing roster of post punk artists for the forthcoming release of their 11th (!!) album. First excerpt to be revealed now, “Down We Go” showcases THE BREATH OF LIFE at their best, with intense but fragile female vocals carried by manic drums, electrifying bass and passionate guitars bringing the song to a ultimate climax of urgency evoking good old ethereal moments from the 4AD cult years merged with classic darkwave roots and a certain LENE LOVICH’s ghost lurking in the background… Besides that you'll hear a great bass, a magical synth, cool drum sound and empowering guitarplay!
As a thank you for the band’s faithful fanbase, THE BREATH OF LIFE also added to this new single their captivating take on THE CURE’s poppy “The Lovecats” that they plunged into a darker listen to the bass guitar)/drums) and more tortured atmospheric bath redirecting it closer to the “17 Seconds” / “Faith” era of the band. In the beginning it might be hard to recognize the original song and that is just the thing I adore here as they really reworked it into a song of their own! Fans of The Cure will be overpowered by this new version and maybe one day The Cure might even try out this new version?
As cherry on the cake, they also close the release with a somewhat more electronic based song that is nothing but the result from their very own reinterpretation of IMPLANT’s groovy “The Last Record” featuring Len Lemeire himself on backing vocals and offering it a poetic shoegaze dimension so perfectly suiting the lyrics.
Two video clips are also accompanying this EP adding the visual dimension to the songs and reinforcing the floating and darkish atmosphere of it all.
Anno 2023, THE BREATH OF LIFE are Isabelle Dekeyser (vocals), Philippe Mauroy (guitar, drums programming), Giovanni Bortolin (violin, keyboards), Didier Czepczyk (bass).
Down We Go EP | THE BREATH OF LIFE (bandcamp.com)
