With Songs Of Homecoming, the Swiss band The Beauty of Gemina announces their next album, four years after their last release, Skeleton Dreams, in 2020. The new record is set to be released in late summer 2024. It will be their 8th studio album with all new material.
The band’s frontman and mastermind, Michael Sele, writes: «I want to create an album that captures the essence of coming home and the magic of reunion. The songs are like a diary of my own journey home.»
Potential For Political Commentary
In their announcement, the band also writes about how the past four years have been dominated by the pandemic, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and a global climate and environmental crisis.
So, while the title and the previous work by The Beauty of Gemina suggest an intimate, personal album, much like Skeleton Dreams, the statement also hints at the possibility that Michael Sele explores his relationship with current affairs. In the past, the band often took on political commentary in songs like June 2nd, Kings Men Come, or Galilee Song alongside their emotional, introspective facet.
Acoustically Enhanced Wave
The Beauty of Gemina’s origin was the end of the Wave band Nuuk. Guitarist Michael Sele and drummer Mac Vinzens continued working together and released their first single, Suicide Landscape, in 2006 to wide acclaim.
Their unique and dense sound was a refreshed approach to dark wave and gothic rock, dominated by repetitive lyrics, delivered almost priest-like by Michael Sele’s deep voice. However, the band’s direction changed drastically in 2013 when they released The Myrrh Sessions, featuring acoustic interpretations of their songs.
Janosch Troehler
Since then, they fuse acoustic elements, often rooted in blues, country, or Americana, with wave-inspired compositions. Although The Beauty of Gemina’s shift in sound distanced the band further from their gothic scene roots, their music remains highly melancholic.
The band went through several different bass players and live guitarists but found a more steady member in Andi Zuber, who joined in 2014. In 2020, keyboarder Daniel Manhart became a fixed part of the line-up.
