A Projection - Exit

Swedish post-punk band A Projection formed in Stockholm in 2013 and signed to the Hamburg-based label Tapete Records last year, after attracting as well the interest of various other labels, because, as they have said it "offered us full creative freedom." 'Exit', their debut album, will undoubtedly be one of my albums of the year. Housed in a sparse, grey sleeve, it is a work of raw beauty and energy. It opens with the title track, and, leading us into the world of A Projection, tightly combines the distortion of early Joy Division with the dance sounds of New Order. 'Camera' is as magical as those journeys that the Cure would take us on in the ealy 1980s. You can almost see a black and white video unwinding in front of as you listen to this. 'Young Days' is a poppy post-punk number, while 'Reborn' starts has the vibe of Echo & The Bunnymen's 'Over the Wall'. Isak Eriksson's vocals just melt all over it, here sounding like Tom Smith from Editors. 'Solid' is full of shivering 80's Gothic doom. 'Another Face' is reminiscent of Interpol, combining a mournful sound again with dance beats. 'This is Not Me' has sharp bass and Stephen Morris drums, while Amos Pagin and Charles Karjalainen's guitars dance all over it in a delightful Cure style. 'Retrospection' recalls Bauhaus with its dreamy Gothic sound. 'The Laughing Garden' recollects the Chameleons with its jangling sound, while Isak's vocals speak true truth in a way that is so believable but again totally dreamy. 'Faith' ends the album, which is almost a hymn of sorts, doomy and morbid, very 80s and, like the rest of this album, a joy to listen too. A stunning work.