Berlin-based dystopian post-punk duo Fixed Lens announces the release of Swept Out To Sea, a new EP signaling their first appearance on vinyl by Leipzig’s Unterschall Records. It’s accompanied by the exhilarating title song, which centers itself on intense BPMs expressing the crisis of losing oneself in anger and rage. Percussive, aggressive, distorted, and chorus-laden, this politically-charged fare is at times reminiscent of Killing Joke and Frustration.
The film noir video for “Swept Out to Sea,” filmed and edited by guitarist and lead vocalist Robert Hanna, follows a troubled woman struggling to decipher between reality and her imagination. The story is set in a nighttime pursuit by car through the streets of modern-day Berlin. As she hunts down her perceived nemesis, the boundaries of her reality become distorted, skewed, and inundated with a menacing red light. It’s an apt metaphor for the general paranoia haunting the collective, brought upon by constant news streams, talking head pundits, and social media soothsayers, as we grapple with constant bad news and wonder…what is real, and what is manufactured to keep us constantly on the lam?
Watch the video for “Swept Out to Sea” below:
As veterans of post-punk and hardcore bands (Totenwald, Nocturnal Scum), guitarist and singer Robert Hanna and synthesist Matthias Gaese paint an impression of a bleak, not-so-distant future from the current world in which we live. “Swept Out to Sea” provides a portal into this potential world, one which must be questioned, and ultimately reformed before it is too late.
A true exemplar of Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, Fixed Lens emerged from the smoke-filled basement rooms of Berlin’s DIY scene in 2021 with their eponymous debut EP. Cold, driving machinery beats and ethereal synths establish the foundation for melancholic, chorus-drenched post-punk guitars.
The Swept Out to Sea EP includes a limited hand-numbered blood-red vinyl edition, alongside a standard black vinyl version. The band’s 2021 self-titled EP is also being reissued on cassette, and for the first time, on CD! The album is out now via Unterschall Records.
You can purchase the single on 7″ vinyl here.
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