If Leopath still haven’t crossed your path, here is a great opportunity to get introduced to their work. Leopath is a German duo consisting of Michael and Neila Fynn. Just recently they have released the Collaps/Collabs double album after three years of work. Both members had classical formal music education which surely contributed to their music-making and their understanding of songs’ structures and arrangements. They combine heavier industrial sound and beat with harmonies which makes this release quite unique. Collaps contains new Leopath material. They speak about societal aspects and past and future global tendencies, but they distance themselves from the current political issues.
Collaps explores different approaches to making music. “Gradiva” can be perceived as a dance track which offers more atmosphere and is close to the idea of synth or future pop with a heavier punch. Neila’s vocals add a somewhat cold and almost non-human feel which makes this track a warm-cold experience. Nice combination. After the melodic introduction, Leopath moves towards dark electro with “Gang”. I can imagine this track being received well on the dance floor. It flirts with electronica and dark electro with its harsh chorus. “No” is a perfect sequel to what we’ve heard so far. The track has a punchy chorus and I can relate this one to some FLA influence, which makes it appealing to the old school ebm-industrial audience as well. “War” comes even closer to the ebm-industrial sound, but even though that old-school touch is evident, it is still a very up to date track which explores the genre further. Neila’s voice leads the listener on “Replicate”, a very trancy track with a hypnotising power. The mixture of an almost unearthly female vocal with this genre is a winning combination. The harsh and cold electronic sound that comes close to dark electro music continues with “Destroy” and I really need to pay a compliment to Leopath for this wonderful play of the merciless and driving pulsation combined with female vocals. “Headfucker” is more experimental than the previous tracks. It shows perfectly that this duo is thinking outside the box. There are clearly no boundaries, nor are they willing to commit to one idea. The piece is minimalistic and relying mostly on the beat and repetition. However, it remains an interesting piece none the less. “Superheroine” puts them back on track of implementing industrial and dark electronic music that so far worked wonderfully on this release. This time Neila is performing almost in a speaking manner and the statement is clear: they show a lot of attitude, both instrumentally and vocally. “Cosplay” is really high on this release tracks’ top list. Dark twist is combined with a catchy and ethereal chorus so cleverly. They play with the same idea on “Disavow”. However, they left a soothing and ambiental piece for the closing track. “Shelter” is everything you would not expect on this album. Once again Leopath show the variety of styles and their full capacity.
The second part of this release called Collabs has evolved from working with different musicians. It contains Leopath songs sung by guest singers and some cover songs. We invite you to discover the rest for yourselves.
