The Covenant at Electrofest 4

Before we proceed a quick word from one of the Covenant band members regarding the review you're about to read...

I got a bit bored tonight and decided to surf for "Dead Stars" fora while. It's always fun to read the wide range of opinions of that terribly overplayed anthem... So I stumbled over your review from last year's show at the Electrofest [http://www.oocities.org/visionthingdave/convt_1.htm]:

"After departing the stage, they soon encore with 'Der Leiermann' - sung in English as opposed to the original Swedish! Call me sentimental, but I've always considered it a cop-out when bands translate their songs for a foreign market. If you'll excuse the obvious pun, something always gets lost in the translation, and the lyrics always lose something of their mystery (check out the English translation of Rammstein's 'Du Hast' for a perfect example!). Still the haunting John Foxx period Ultravox waves of mystery that surround the track still remain."

I'm usually not picky and I certainly feel no need to defend my lack of presence in front of my keyboards. But there are just a few too many errors in the quote above to let it slip by uncommented. "Der Leiermann" is the German single version of the album track "Like Tears In Rain" from USoM; the German version was recorded later and the lyrics of the two versions have nothing to do with each other at all. "Der Leiermann" was written over 150 years ago as a part of Franz Schubert's "Die Winterreise". So, the Covenant original was in English. Our second version was in German. We have never ever made a song in Swedish under the name Covenant.

But thanks for the nice comparison to John Foxx. "Metamatic" is a great album.

Ooops, sorry boys. I'd only heard the version of the song from the Synergy live album!

General Zod and his two co-conspiritors found life in the Phantom Zone hard to take...

The Covenant are by anybody's standards a bit of an anomaly on the Industrial/Goth circuit. No clever gimmicks, no overblown image, no guitars (or noises of) and upbeat songs and lyrics aimed mainly at the dance floor. And yet they are ridiculously popular, with every alternative club night across the country slipping in at least two plays of 'Dead Stars'.

If you needed testimony to the crowd they can gather, the LA2 is absolutely packed wall to wall with Cyber Goths. Not bad for three guys from Sweden who have received little to no press in the UK.

Today's show is part of a one-day mini festival entitled 'Electrofest'. It's the fourth gathering of it's kind, although the bill suffered from an early drop out when former Shakespeare's Sister Siobhan Fahey had to cancel her debut support date. Being straddled with a hang over from Saturday, I arrived late and missed most of the day's bands, although I was able to catch XPQ21. They offer a familiar brand of what our genre-defining friends at the NME call electroclash (I'd call it 'eighties inspired electronica'). A few familiar club anthems crop up, but there are moments when their programmed sounds merge all too well into the recorded music played before and after their set!

And so to the Covenant - Two keyboards, a microphone and a lot of smoke. Soon vocalist Eskil and his two keyboard-prodding pals are onstage in their Sunday best suits. As they career into a selection of dance floor friendly tunes from new LP 'Northern Lights', problems become apparent with the band's mini disc backing track as it splutters and stops.

"Ah, a new mix" notes Eskil, "It looks like we'll have to give you an acapella version!". After a period of backstage fiddling, the show is soon back on the road. The Covenant have no shame in the fact that most of their music is pre-recorded so main song writer Joakim, spends most of his time in front of his keyboard (as opposed to behind it), mike in hand adding the odd backing vocal. Well I guess it beats doing an Andy Fletcher from Depeche Mode and standing behind your keyboard clapping you hands like a muppet when you've got nothing else to do! A wall of cheers greets 'Dead Stars', which is a still an unashamed slice of 'eighties inspired electronica' (copyright - visionthingdave 2003!), although it does produce sighs from those who have endured all 2000 plays of it at the Electric Ballroom on a Friday night!

After departing the stage, they soon encore with 'Der Leiermann' - sung in English as opposed to the original Swedish! Call me sentimental, but I've always considered it a cop-out when bands translate their songs for a foreign market. If you'll excuse the obvious pun, something always gets lost in the translation, and the lyrics always lose something of their mystery (check out the English translation of Rammstein's 'Du Hast' for a perfect example!). Still the haunting John Foxx period Ultravox waves of mystery that surround the track still remain. After bidding a fond farewell, they return once more. After joking about his cravings for scotch, Eskil asks the assembled what they want to hear. A massive cry goes out for 'One World, One Sky'. The three suited wonders oblige, uniting the crowd in the cerebral trance of the rave anthem which is the best kept secret in clubland.

OK, so the Covenant don't have the wide range of styles and moods that make Mesh so appealing, which could possibly deprive them of the same mainstream popularity that Bristol's finest will (we hope!) one day enjoy. However, the Covenant know what their fans want, and are more than happy to deliver, which is a quality in itself that can't be faulted.