Belgian legends Absolute Body Control, the legendary synth-pop and EBM project from Antwerp, marches onward after 45 restless years. Dirk Ivens—the mastermind behind The Klinik, Dive, Sonar, and Motorik—and Eric Van Wonterghem, of Sonar, Monolith, and Insekt fame, now unveil Walk Away, their first original offering since 2021’s A New Dawn. The track finds its home on My Precious Volume 5, the latest release from Brussels-basedRed Maze Records.
Walk Away ticks away with an insistent precision, its motorik rhythms churning like a machine that refuses to break. Synth lines slither and squirm, strange and spectral, while Ivens’ spoken vocals creep through the circuitry like a ghost whispering in an empty room. Repetition becomes ritual, each note sinking deeper, pulling the listener into an uneasy trance. The result is classic Absolute Body Control: sharp, hypnotic, and eerily alive—a cold, mechanical heartbeat throbbing in the dim, electric dark.
The curious black-and-white vision, shaped and spliced by Franck Budynek—known as Carbone—unfurls as a fragmented montage of still spaces and silent structures. Empty factories loom like forgotten temples, palaces sag with their bygone grandeur, and apartment blocks sit as if awaiting occupants who will never return. Streets stretch out, barren and unblinking, like veins without blood. Each frame holds its breath, whispering riddles in monochrome.
It calls to mind La Jetée, a silent reckoning where meaning slips between the cracks of stillness. Budynek’s film dares you to make sense of its disorder—to find patterns where none announce themselves, to link the disjointed with the thin thread of your own understanding. It is an exercise in abstraction, a puzzle without borders or pieces. Here, story exists in suggestion, stitched together not by logic but by the mind’s restless will to make sense of emptiness.
Watch the unofficial video for “Walk Away” below:
Absolute Body Control was started in early 1980 by Dirk Ivens (synth and voice), Mark De Jonghe (synths), and Veerle De Schepper (backing vocals). Eric Van Wonterghem joined in 1981. Their first eponymous cassette came out that year, pioneering the synth-pop genre along with contemporaries on Mute, including Depeche Mode and Fad Gadget.
“But we had a more EBM-oriented style,” says Dirk Ivens. “We were pretty much influenced by Suicide, as well as by D.A.F.”
In the four years that marked the first chapter of their existence, they released four cassettes featuring classics like Weaving Hands, Is There An Exit, and Give Me Your Hands. The band disbanded in 1985, only to reunite 22 years later in 2007 for Wind[Re]Wind. their first vinyl and CD release—which offered newly recorded versions of older tracks alongside the soon-to-be classic EP Never Seen.
Listen to Walk Away at the link below, and order the My Precious! Vol.5 compilation here. It includes 11 new, exclusive, and unreleased tracks featured on the Belgian radio show WAVES. The vinyl is available in a limited edition (600 copies).
To celebrate their 45th anniversary, the band is also announcing a tour. Dates are listed below:
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