Iconic US-based label Metropolis Records is thrilled to announce the signing of beguiling industrial-electronic music legend Bill Leeb for his debut solo offering. Titled ‘Model Kollapse’, this record explores the intricacies of artificial intelligence and the very survival of humanity itself. The first single ‘Terror Forms’ will be released on July 9.
Based in Vancouver, Bill Leeb is the mastermind behind electro-industrial scene mainstays Front Line Assembly and ambient-pop duo Delerium, having gotten his start with Skinny Puppy (under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder). He is also a key member of other occasional recording projects, including Noise Unit, Intermix and Cyberaktif.
“We are proud to announce that Metropolis Records has signed Bill Leeb for his first solo project. Bill Leeb has had a prolific career as a founding member of Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly and Delerium. His music has been highly influential, and we are excited to see what this new chapter in his career will bring for him and his listeners,” says Nina Heckman of Metropolis Records.
“I’m honored to fulfill my father’s (Dave Heckman) lifelong vision and to be doing this project with a lifelong family friend I can honestly call family (Bill Leeb). This project is near and dear to all of our hearts here at Metropolis and I know it would make my father proud.”
Leeb acknowledges the role that Metropolis Records has played in his recording career since the late 1990s, noting that “Metropolis Records have been and are one of the most important labels for alternative music on this planet and this album was made possible by my long-standing friendship with Dave Heckman (RIP), who continuously has supported us through the ages and gave us complete artistic freedom”. Tragically, Heckman died in the summer of 2022.
The first single ‘Terror Forms’ features Shannon Hemmett of post-punk quartet ACTORS and her solo project LEATHERS, who are also based in Vancouver. This album also involves contributions by LA-based artist Mimi Page, a long-term Delerium collaborator, and Jason Corbett of ACTORS and Jacknife Sound Studio.
‘Model Kollapse’ marks Leeb’s first solo venture since the mid-80s days of Front Line Assembly, when he used to make recordings in his bedroom and released them on limited edition cassette format. Almost four decades on, his new album was recorded and produced in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles with assistance from Vancouver/Toronto-based production duo Dream Bullet and long-term FLA/Delerium cohort Rhys Fulber, plus regular mixing engineer Greg Reely.
Hard-edged yet melodic, danceable and very much song-oriented rather than soundscape-driven, the album carries traces of hard-edged electronic dance music pioneers such as Front 242, DAF, KMFDM and Skinny Puppy, as well as his own oeuvre. However, it also displays the influence that acts like these had on latter day artists such as Gesaffelstein and ADULT, not to mention music that came to be known as darkwave.
Influential as Front Line Assembly was in the industrial music world, Leeb formed Delerium in 1987, originally as a side project, exploring dark ethereal ambient trance, voiceless soundscapes and electronic pop music. Since their 1994 album ‘Semantic Spaces’, Delerium has received two Juno awards and grown to massive fame through collaborations, involving vocals by Leigh Nash (Sixpence None the Richer),Lisa Gerrard (Dead Can Dance), Kirsty Hawkshaw (Opus III), Emily Haines (Metric), Jacqui Hunt (Single Gun Theory), Matthew Sweet, Kristy Thirsk (Rose Chronicles) and Sarah McLachlan. The latter produced the worldwide hit ‘Silence’, which reached #1 in numerous countries and whose remixes are hailed among the greatest trance songs of all time (with the Tiësto remix having been voted the 12th-greatest dance track of all time by Mixmag readers).
The ‘Terror Forms’ single will be unleashed digitally everywhere on July 9. The full ‘Model Kollapse’ album will be released on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally, on September 13.
FOR SHARING
‘Terror Forms’ single pre-save https://ingrv.es/terror-forms-jvc-s
‘Model Kollapse’ album pre-order goes live on July 8
Front Line Assembly ‘Unknown’ (2021) https://youtu.be/ZiO2dq78mZI
FLA ‘Mesmerized’ (2019) https://youtu.be/iM_DokBt0rk
FLA ‘Structures’ (2019) https://youtu.be/zDwmVRWM64w
Delerium ‘Silence’ ft. Sarah McLachlan https://youtu.be/Zw1oSqpS8yM
Photo credit: Bobby Talamine
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