LETTEN 94

ABOUT:

Zurich, 1994. Along the banks of the Limmat river, on the railway tracks of the disused Letten station, the largest open drugs scene in Europe is in its last year. Federal Councillor Ruth Dreifuss visits the site and meets addicts who lie on the ground, injecting themselves with heroin. From the Kornhausbrücke, the view looks like a dystopian landscape.

Comprising Dolorès and Freddy Van Ballast, LETTEN 94 is a Swiss coldwave duo which takes this mental image of Letten, and more widely of Europe in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a starting point to try to create electronic music which is sometimes aggressive and syncopated, sometimes dark and mysterious. The guitar, putting into relief the railway-inspired rhythms of Van Ballast, commemorates the post-punk movement, while the deep and haunting voice of Dolorès prepares listeners for the clearly nihilist tone of their creations.