Clan Of Xymox

Clan Of Xymox are one of the most important European dark acts. In particular, they draw on two of the most defining genres of the 80s, goth-rock and synth-pop, developing them into a personal musical form that combines drama and accessibility, melancholy and even danceable rhythm.

All this culminates in their mature masterpiece, the intriguing "Medusa" from 1986, which is also their most influential and successful work, thanks to its stirring songs and the balance between its components. Its approach set the standard for sad, decadent atmospheres shot through with dreamlike hazes that leave a glimmer of light in the darkness. The record heavily influenced the evolution of the genre's more electronic fringe, particularly those styles that certain press and critics would go on to call "coldwave" and "electro-goth".

The importance of Clan Of Xymox to the dark scene is also geographical, as they are one of the leading acts from outside the essential British hub, reminding us of the existence of a rich musical world not always known to the general public. The period between the 1970s and 1980s was in fact very fertile for the movement: the huge and varied current of post-punk gave rise to numerous strands, including in particular darkwave and goth-rock, which in turn branched out into their own nuances and cross-contaminations. These genres are commonly associated by both audiences and press mainly with the United Kingdom, and England in particular, with historic cornerstones such as Cure, Joy Division, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sisters of Mercy and many others, each with their own stylistic and thematic peculiarities.

It would, however, be a mistake to consider only the role played by the United Kingdom in the growth of this scene, overlooking developments that took place on this side of the Channel (or across the Atlantic). Here too there are many names that, over the course of the 1980s, contributed to keeping this sonic universe's flag flying across Europe and beyond. To name the best known, spanning proposals quite different from one another yet united by common roots, we can mention the French Clair Obscur and Asylum Party, the Polish Siekiera and Closterkeller, the German Xmal Deutschland and Deine Lakaien, the Yugoslav Mizar and Padot Na Vizantija, the Italian Diaframma and Neon, the Spanish Héroes del Silencio, the Spanish-Swedish Décima Victima, or indeed the Dutch Clan Of Xymox. And from them further offshoots would unfurl in the years that followed.

The specialist press would later use the label coldwave to define the continental scene, especially in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, with their own stylistic and sometimes linguistic peculiarities. Perhaps that is why certain bands are not mentioned as often when talking about post-punk, goth-rock and darkwave. As far as this writer is concerned, coldwave is entirely interchangeable with these genres and is essentially a synonym for them, especially for the latter term, which is already broad enough in itself to encompass bands of the most varied shades.

It is within this context that the Dutch outfit came into being, formed in Nijmegen in 1981, when two sociology students, Ronny Moorings and Anka Wolbert, became friends, drawn together by shared musical interests and by both being self-taught multi-instrumentalists, moving between keyboards, bass, guitar and vocals. They are eclectic personalities who reinforce one another.

The two, facing numerous difficulties, played live alone for a few years, alternating instruments on stage, until in 1984 they recorded their first EP, "Subsequent Pleasures". By a stroke of luck they managed to hand it in person to Brendan Perry of Dead Can Dance, who was struck by it and invited them to support the band on tour, before helping them get signed to the celebrated 4AD, which released their self-titled debut the following year. In the meantime, Pieter Nooten and Frank Weyzig had also joined the duo. By now the Dutch group had broken the ice and were invited by none other than John Peel to perform on his famous BBC radio sessions. For the occasion, the celebrated broadcaster coined the term "darkwave" to describe their music, and the occasion is sometimes also described as the first use of the term, although it had actually already been circulating for a few years. It remains, in any case, a significant moment, one that brought the Dutch band to the attention of a wider audience.

"Medusa" arrived not long after: by now it was 1986 and Clan Of Xymox had a clearly defined identity of their own. Produced under the aegis of John Fryer, already responsible for the sound of numerous kindred bands and a member of the This Mortal Coil project, the album plays on contrasts and sounds icy and enveloping at the same time. The band's talent lies in blending these two sonic components with coherence and spontaneity.

If one were to name the Dutch band's main points of reference, the first titles that come to mind are "Black Celebration" by Depeche Mode, "Power, Corruption & Lies" by New Order, "Low" by David Bowie, "First, Last & Always" by Sisters of Mercy for the more electronic side (keyboards and drum machine), and "Seventeen Seconds" by Cure and "Closer" by Joy Division for the more rock/gothic one. But also "Spleen and Ideal" by Dead Can Dance (mainly for its more atmospheric sequences) and "Night Time" by Killing Joke (for its more mechanical aspects), both released the previous year. The Dutch group manages to blend and surpass all these influences, creating an ideal crossroads of bleak phrasing and strikingly accessible, almost danceable arrangements - at least within a dark context.

The opening "Theme I" is an instrumental prologue, built on a spectral guitar arpeggio and reverbs reminiscent of moonlit nights. The absence of vocals generates a sense of solitude, filled only by the guitar phrasing. The use of delay is, surprisingly, also inspired by U2: Moorings, in fact, has stated that he adores The Edge's guitar on "Boy".

The voice arrives on the following title track. The anguished vocals on this album are mainly the domain of Moorings, whose voice is monotone and baritone, somewhere between Ian Curtis and David Bowie in timbre. The lion's share of the work is done by the atmospheres built from the combination of lysergic guitars and ethereal keyboards, marked out by the pulse of the drum machine. It's a bittersweet song, in which the melancholy grows without becoming oppressive. The lyrics seem to allude to unrequited love, allegorically identified with the mythological gorgon who enchants and petrifies anyone who looks at her. Moorings invokes her, asking her to "mesmerize" him with her eyes, but he realizes that his is a tragic illusion, and that he's chasing after something that torments him.

I found the lies in your words

And now

I'm glorifying my tragic destiny

Dreams can be hard and mean

I still wonder if you’re aware of this

Dreams can be hard and mean

Life is a tormented dream now

Despite being a polyglot with the ability to sing in French too - a language he greatly appreciates on a cultural and artistic level - Moorings decides to use only English. It's an all-things-considered obvious choice, made to reach as wide an audience as possible, but also due to his particular fondness for British goth subculture, which can also be inferred from his Robert Smith-like look.

"Michelle" places more emphasis on rhythm, with its intermittent bass lines accompanied by acoustic guitar. The electronic effects are disorienting, ranging between exotic tones and more industrial ones; the guitar parts are gorgeous, edging close to what the Scottish Cocteau Twins were already doing at the time with their ethereal effects. The lyrics once again allude to an impossible love, with Moorings reproaching the Michelle of the title, who is interested only in fame and thus destined to cause the protagonist's suffering.

The second instrumental is "Theme II", built entirely around a few repeated keyboard notes that turn out to be surprisingly catchy, while sampled background effects generate a horror-like contrast. There's a certain aftertaste of abandonment, as if one were stretching out to gaze at the sky, or a ceiling, overwhelmed by solitude. Clan Of Xymox's music is dynamic, yet it offers contemplative undertones.

"Louise" comes across as almost hopeful and sunny, with its pulsing bass and layers of keyboards, but the melancholy quickly resurfaces in another song about unhealthy, unrequited love. Moorings channels the utter despair of someone who longs only to forget a person who haunts them:

Now I do the strangest things

I think such lonely thoughts

Forgetting all

Just forgetting you

Louise

Anything at all

Not to think of you

Anything at all

Don't deny it is not true

Louise

"Lorretine" is the third instrumental and brings to mind Vangelis, with its reverbed touches of electronic keyboard set against the soundscapes and brushstrokes of strings, and a hint of Joy Division in the bass. Indeed, at one point the keyboard/bass interplay seems to echo "The Eternal", but without the funereal sense of desolation, replaced instead by a nostalgic evocativeness.

"Agonised By Love", on the other hand, is a hushed tribute to the Cure, anticipating some of the sounds of "Disintegration" (1989) in its sweeter, more melodic moments. The theme of suffering for love recurs once again, prompting Moorings to reflect on the emptiness of life: when the more vibrant sounds give way to darker moments, the transition takes on the shape of an inescapable decline.

"Masquerade" is the first song written by Anka Wolbert on her own, and also the only one to feature her voice, low and delicate. Anka programmed every note using her Atari ST computer (one of the cutting-edge tech tools of the time). The result is stunning: a track that is both melancholic and dreamlike, elegantly capturing the theme of detachment between people and the images we project of ourselves, often false and hollow.

These narrowed eyes I don't know

Nothing is there behind

The mask you wear

Now it feels so unreal

Cold as ice

This face I see

Wolbert represents the band's most eclectic component, with a broad musical background ranging from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen, by way of Patti Smith, Camel, David Bowie, Fleetwood Mac, Nina Hagen, Siouxsie Sioux, Arvo Part and Talk Talk. The "goth" label feels too narrow for her, and she aims to expand the sound of Clan Of Xymox, experimenting as much as possible, including through the use of technology. Still, she ends up somewhat overshadowed by Moorings's dominant personality, much like Nooten.

In interviews Wolbert has said that the band was always a collective effort and was credited as such on every song, with everyone writing their own individual pieces and then contributing to what the others brought in — though this happened far more often with their material than it did with Moorings'. In her recollection, the Dutch artist, protective of his own ideas and wary of being overshadowed, always displayed a domineering approach, treating his fellow bandmates more as collaborators than equals. In later years, Wolbert would get some things off her chest, talking about how Moorings would even go so far as to sabotage her efforts just to keep control of Clan Of Xymox and effectively make it his own personal vehicle. Pieter Nooten proved even less tolerant of the group's internal dynamics, which deteriorated further on the tours that followed, ones he found increasingly burdensome. Moorings, for his part, has claimed that he was always the band's principal songwriter, going so far as to state that he was the only one who believed in the material written for "Medusa", and that he handled the following third album on his own because the others were "on vacation", or busy with their side projects. 

But despite the first signs of internal friction, "Medusa" plays out flawlessly from start to finish, without a single weak link. Nooten takes the spotlight on vocals in "After The Call", a track of epic, sublime scope that attempts an ambitious fusion of Dead Can Dance and David Bowie. The lyrics tell of a widening rift between two people, with one retreating into their own imagination. Nooten urges the other person to keep calling him, perhaps in vain. 

The album closes with "Back Door", very Depeche Mode-esque in its core melodies, catchy even at its most intense and evocative moments, before merging into the decadence and sorrow of the Cure. The lyrics are deeply evocative: those of someone who feels crushed and repressed, unable to communicate their emotions and feelings to the person they love, weary of the world around them, of its frustrations, of time slipping away, weary of everything. The only thing that seems to offer Moorings any hope, even as the thought pains him, is the desire to be reunited with her.

In later reissues, Moorings added three further tracks: "Blind Hearts", a brisk, driving fusion of goth-rock and pop-rock, "A Million Things", more varied and bombastic, and a dance remix of "Scum", actually closer to Primal Scream, a product of the band's 1990s period, when Moorings alone was in control of everything.

So, despite the internal tensions that would surface a few years later and lead to the other members splitting from Moorings, "Medusa" manages to set a standard for 80s darkwave, a milestone sandwiched between two other excellent albums by one of the leading names on the European goth scene. Its influence would prove decisive for artists working in wildly different sonic territories, from Germany's Diary of Dreams to France's Hante, by way of Canada's Birthday Massacre and America's Lycia and Drab Majesty.

Tomorrow, I will be here again

A silent mute of a black desire

Ride the wave of great music

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08/10/2023