release date:
20 march 2020 (bandcamp)
30 march 2020 (streaming platforms)
mid-april 2020 (vinyl)
29 may 2020 (retail)
format: lp (special edition, 100 copies / clear vinyl, 200 copies) / digital
label: burning witches records
reviews
‘Throwing enough arpeggiated keys and snare-topped beats to score a wealth of classic movies and TV shows.’
juno records
‘Synthesizer heaven (…) it’s a great journey to experience.’
strutter magazine
‘The songs are very efficient in the cinematic style and ‘Dead Calm And Zero Degrees’ is even the most accomplished cinematic work from the artist.’
side-line
‘While Open Sea was reminiscent of the work of Jan Hammer, Dead Calm and Zero Degrees tends more towards the work of Jean-Michel Jarre.’
festivalinfo
‘What both records have in common is that they are downright strong.’
written in music
‘A very nice and refreshing take on electronic synthesizer music. Outstanding!’
io pages
‘There is an unabashed charm that digs into the emotional core of the listening experience that will actually make you feel something. The majority of the compositions are uplifting, bright and hopeful, something sorely needed for these troubling times.’
4 / 5
chain d.l.k.
‘What Meijer took from them [Jean-Michel Jarre, Vangelis, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream] is the search for strong melodies and hooklines that can carry the pieces.’
lust for life
‘A great masterpiece and his strongest album to date with a creative but minimal ‘wall of sound’ of synth sounds.’
black magazin
‘Hunter Complex has written some beautiful, rich and textured melodies for this album that move from bright uplift to more shadowed darkness and encompass feelings of loneliness, melancholy, gentleness and warmth.’
karl magi / spinditty
‘Synthpop with a hint of electro, new wave, disco, ambient and krautrock, but always with a full and saturated sound.’
gonzo (circus)
‘Hunter Complex surpasses the soundtrack here by somehow injecting this Death Calm and Zero Degrees with an 80s pop feel, somewhere in between synth pop and italo disco without becoming explicit.’
dark entries
‘It is interesting how one technology is associated with nostalgia and the past, while others are not.’
frnkfrt
‘Tracks full of swelling layers of warm synthesizer sounds, this time more reminiscent of German synth acts like Roedelius or Tangerine Dream than film music. Nothing wrong with that of course.’
oor
‘The new Hunter Complex record is brilliant.’
louder than war
‘Meyer has found a way to use all kinds of sounds and tropes from the past to come up with something that is 2020 at its core: a post-nostalgic ambient synthpop masterpiece.’
stasis
‘To incorporate vintage nineties synthesizers and drum pads, which everyone is happy to have forgotten, into something new and quite flashy. Bold, but also really enjoyable.’
damusic
‘I personally don’t see this leaving my list of top 5 albums of 2020.’
9 / 10
forever synth
‘It is human and it is mechanic; who said synths have no warmth (oh right, that’s what they said in the 80s). Another great record.’
vital weekly
‘A tad dark, hyper melancholic and above all super entertaining composed.’
3voor12
‘It is the very best Hunter Compex album yet!’
subjectivisten
‘Magic with a capital M.’
Album of the Week!
synthwavefan
‘The latest album [on Burning Witches Records] is Hunter Complex’s tour de force, Dead Calm and Zero Degrees (heard below) and you should definitely buy it.’
vehlinggo
‘A museum-worthy piece.’
8,7 / 10
complex distractions
‘Hunter Complex has constructed ten miniature, musical dreams.’
xsnoize
info
The new Hunter Complex album Dead Calm and Zero Degrees was released on 20 March 2020 on the British label Burning Witches Records. Dead Calm and Zero Degrees is the follow-up to last year’s critically acclaimed album Open Sea. The surreal artwork was created by kid-ethic; the LP was mastered by James Plotkin and cut at the world renowned Abbey Road Studios. ‘Dead Calm and Zero Degrees is a refreshing blast of epic open space and industrial mechanics. Expertly crafted by Hunter Complex into a very fulfilling partner to last years Open Sea’, say Darren Page and Gary Dimes of Burning Witches Records.
Dead Calm and Zero Degrees is the fourth Hunter Complex album to date and the twin record to Open Sea, which was released in January 2019 on Death Waltz Originals. The tracks on Dead Calm and Zero Degrees share the same DNA because they originated around the same time and are thematically linked to the tracks on Open Sea. Closing track Star Crash ends with the melody and rain of Night City, the opening track of Open Sea. Sonically Dead Calm and Zero Degrees feels richer and more profound than its predecessor.
burning witches records
Burning Witches Records is a UK-based record label specialising in forward-thinking electronic and heavy synth music. Born from a love of horror films and electronic music, Burning Witches presents artists that are pushing the boundaries of electronic music and music as a whole package. From opening track to album art to vinyl and cassette colour variants, Burning Witches Records makes every release count.
Artists on Burning Witches Records include Rory Mohon, Wolfmen Of Mars, Canter, Timothy Fife, Repeated Viewing, Dallas Campbell, Josh Hasty and Michael Brooker, Oh Baby, Brittany Allen, Kevin Hufnagel and Natasha Kermani, System Syn, Daniel Davies, Mr Eff, Antoni Maiovvi, worriedaboutsatan, Galactic Protector, Thomas Ragsdale, Deadly Avenger, Graham Reznick, Espectrostatic, All Of Them Witches, BurningTapes, Alone In The Woods, Cory Kilduff, Harglow, Xander Harris, Brass Hearse, Maine.
hunter complex
Hunter Complex is the moniker of Dutch artist Lars Meijer. In the late eighties Meijer began releasing rudimentary synth music on handmade tapes, before turning to lo-fi pop as Larz in 1994, resulting in two albums on the Californian cult label Blackbean and Placenta. Around the turn of the century Meijer released several albums with the improvisational electro-acoustic band Psychon Troopers and electronic music duo Living Ornaments, including music on famous labels like Deathbomb Arc and Skam.
Meijer began working as Hunter Complex in 2008. The self-titled debut album came out in 2010 and was influenced by synthpop and new wave bands from the 1980s. Follow-up Heat, which was released on Narrominded in 2013, was the last album to feature vocals, but the first featuring the trademark layers of warm and bright digital synths. With Open Sea Meijer delivered an album full of ‘supreme synth goodness’, according to the Death Waltz label that released the album in 2019.
tracklisting
side one
1.dead calm and zero degrees
2.bitter cold
3.steel dynamics
4.blue tornado
5.hot streets
side two
1. we fly at dawn
2.fragile flyers
3.june gloom
4.riptide
5.star crash
press downloads
Dead Calm and Zero Degrees is included the Burning Witches Records 2020 Vinyl Subscription. You get an exclusive colour variant vinyl and many more goodies.