Kirlian Camera
Erinnerung

Kirlian Camera is a fundamental name in the undergrowth of the Italian dark music scene. The band from Parma, active since the early 1980s, has earned over the years a position of great respect in the Italian dark-wave background, to the point of achieving the status of a true cult band (more abroad, honestly, than within national borders).

Having grown around the charismatic figure of composer Angelo Bergamini, Kirlian Camera, "the fathers of tricolor EBM", were able over the years to emancipate themselves from the synth-pop and dance movements of their origins, progressively enveloping themselves in a dark and martial aura, ending up as a key entity in the international grey-area. So much so that in 1999, sociologist Alfred Shobert, in an article published in Der Spiegel about the Columbine High School massacre, pointed at them, along with artists such as Death in June and Boyd Rice, as spreaders of neo-fascist messages within the wide melting pot of contemporary dark music (any affiliations with neo-fascist movements were later denied by the band in an official statement).

In 1994, the label Discordia released the mini-album "Erinnerung," which within the endless list of publications under the KC name, represents a good balance between electronic assaults and airy, expansive atmospheres.

A gray and foggy suburban scene dominates the cover: the operation involves revisiting others' songs and lyrics, but the unmistakable personality of the band is already so strong that every episode carries the band's imprint.

Infused with an overwhelming Teutonic spirit, "Erinnerung" primarily marks the confirmation of the excellent interpretive qualities of the muse Emilia Lo Iacono, who joined the band a few years prior, and who for some more years would constitute the sensual, human, dreamy alter ego of Bergamini's harsh artistic vision (the singer would eventually be replaced by the equally sensual but less charismatic Elena Fossi). The singer's warm and profound timbre, despite its imperfections, is thus called to warm the cold evolutions of Bergamini's machines, who is always at ease weaving wide and evocative airs of undeniable landscape fascination, as well as pushing the pedal to the metal when faced with more direct electronic passages.

The solemnity of the introductory track "Remember Me - Intro" (which in the typical circular scheme is later called to close the work) ferries the mind to misty and untouched places; we are awakened by the pulsating kick of "Erinnerung - v. 1", a frenzied Kraftwerkian race urged on by the totalitarian screams of a Bergamini who will lead in a great crescendo based on orchestrations, apocalyptic choirs, and percussive whip strokes of sound industrial traction. A classic of the KC repertoire.

As a counterpoint to the band’s more violent side, we can note the "strange pair" "Schliesse Mie Die Augen Beide" / "Veronika Voss - Memories are Made of This" (inspired by the musical theme of Fassbinder’s film by the same name): a couple of piano sonatas that sketch with nostalgia, bordering on cabaret farce, the outlines of a Europe that no longer belongs to our days. The beauty of the band, after all, lies in their ability to traverse very distant shores, merging everything into a unique style that becomes recognizable at the first glance: so much so that in the brief "Erinnerung" coexist the sinuous movements of a tango (I'm talking about "Days of Laura Zero": a tango torn apart by angular and sharp orchestrations) and the ethnic wails of the black singer Grace Osei, guest in the brief "Meyi Me Nyame Aye".

Before the stern reprise of the title track returns us to the epileptic electronic jolts that had flung open the album gates, there is still time to dream: opened by Lo Iacono's folk guitar, "Sea of Memory" is a splendid ballad that sees the singer's poignant vocal charisma once again in the forefront.

Like much of the KC production, "Erinnerung" deserves a listen from all lovers of dark-wave sounds. To those who fear the work’s excessive brevity, it should be noted that in the following years the band will release an expanded version of the EP containing succulent bonus tracks that are certainly not sterile fillers: a demonstration of the artistic honesty and professionalism of someone like Bergamini, a musician certainly above average and responsible for a truly enviable discographic gestation.

For those who are new to this, I highly recommend the 1996 masterpiece "Pictures from Eternity," which undoubtedly represents the pinnacle of Kirlian Camera during the phase with Lo Iacono, probably the most enticing stretch of the path embarked upon over the years by Angelo Bergamini and his dark clique.