During the late 80s I was still at school, enjoying electro pop, reading the indie chart lists in the back of NME and still trying to absorb the sounds of a huge pile of records a friend of a friend had loaned me with the assurance that I would love them.

Neubauten, Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire were all contained within. And I did. And still do love them but also, tucked away in my bag at all times was a tape I had been given by another friend. A mixtape with no cover and no hint as to what any of the sounds on it were. Some I recognised, some I did not.

It contained a gloomy mix of slow noisy electronics alongside tracks from The Cocteau Twins, Leather Nun, Specimen and Bauhaus; at the time I loved it but I have not thought about it at all, for years, at least not until I first heard Troller.

Opening track Milk had me straight back to walking home from friends late at night with my Walkman tucked safely away in my bag listening to the strange and still unknown sounds on my mystery tape. Troller has elements from all of it within its perfect cassette length [of] 45 minutes. It’s all gloomy, slow basslines and muffled drums alongside hidden vocals and synths.

Had I heard this when I was 18 I would have snapped it up immediately. As it turns out it seems to have been recorded in 2011 and for the last few days I have had it on quite heavy rotation. The 4 unnamed instrumental tracks break the album up into bite-sized chunks allowing the synths to really shine above that cold bass and soaring vocals.

I realise I’m revisiting a part of my youth that never existed but I’m enjoying every bit of it. It seems that without really knowing it I have embraced cold wave or something very similar to it.

Troller – Troller
Grab

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Troller – Milk
Troller – _
Troller – Tiger
Troller – __
Troller – Best
Troller – Thirst
Troller – ___
Troller – Winter
Troller – ____
Troller – Peace Dream
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