Zürich-based band NONEXISTER drop their new single “Where Does Your Mind Go” today. The lyrics address interminable loneliness, isolation, and anxiety.
The track is taken from their upcoming album, Demons, set for release on March 15th. Since their first single “Your Pain Up My Veins“, the band has consistently delivered captivating and cinematic videos – their latest output is no exception.
Singer Nik Leuthold comments, “The video for ‘Where Does Your Mind Go’ is a radical, stunning piece of art by Elias Ressegatti, portraying the topic of the song perfectly: a woman underwater, literally running out of air. It was filmed in one take and is completely real. Since both her struggle to hold her breath and her suffering are real, we as spectators feel it ourselves almost physically, we’re with her. Luckily we knew the perfect actress for the role – Martina Momo Kunz who is also a free diver. It would have been impossible for someone without the right training to do the job.”
Their video for “Where Does Your Mind Go” can be viewed HERE.
Director Elias Ressegatti adds, “In this increasingly fast-paced world full of constant distractions, the video forces the viewer to experience the length of the song in an increasingly oppressive state – watching a young woman nearly drown herself during the four minutes of the song, almost in real time – without much to distract us visually.
It’s a distillation of the essence of ‘Where Does Your Mind Go’, a multi-layered, visual composition, always in service of the song’s lyrics. A quiet piece to meditate on, to contemplate, to take in in an ever-expanding world, built of layers of noise.“
Actress Martina Momo Kunz comments on the song, the video, and her demanding role in it, saying, “When Nik asked me to do the breath-hold, I was both excited and scared at the same time. Holding your breath in front of the camera and an entire team is a big challenge, as you have to put yourself in a calm, meditative state in order to counteract the fears that arise. “Where Does Your Mind Go” somehow describes the process exactly; first your thoughts become calm, you drift into a dreamland, into a fantasy world, like the reverberating guitar riffs, and when the chorus comes the fear rises and the battle between instinct and will begins. The battle with the edge, the lust for the edge, the lust for life and the lust for death.”
NONEXISTER’s latest release may not be as loud and heavy as the band’s previous releases, but it’s just as intense. In ‘”Where Does Your Mind Go“, the desert-like wideness of sound meets the isolation of introspection, and the sonic landscape mirrors the deepest depths of the soul.
NONEXISTER thrive on the interplay of electronic energy and hard catharsis. The band’s very first single “Your Pain Up My Veins” was released in March 2023, with a spectacularly dark video starring actress Carol Schuler. Second single “Drowning In The Void” followed in June, with an equally cinematic and highly sophisticated video. Sonic whirlwind “How Do You Dare” came next in September, its video featuring rising British theatre/TV star Selina Jones (Kaos, Raised By Wolves), who won “Best Female Actor in a Play” at the 2022 Black British Theatre Awards. More recently, a captivating modern dance video accompanied “A Promise In The Air” and showcased yet another side of this diverse, fascinating band.
On March 15th, their debut album Demons will finally be released, produced by Tommy Vetterli, known as the mastermind of Coroner and member of legendary thrashers Kreator. It can be pre-ordered digitally, on CD, white vinyl, and 2xLP gatefold vinyl (180g) including a bonus track here. Pre-order on Apple Music to receive the 5 singles instantly!
Leuthold says, “Demons is a journey through the unfathomable depths of human nature — that’s what the lyrics are about and that’s how it sounds. It is dramatic, possibly disturbing, sometimes ironic, and now and then, quite surprising. There are many pumping grooves, perfect for the mosh pit, but there are eerie, strange things as well, that gnaw on your brain. The lyrics orbit all around human behaviour. They are often socially critical, but also sometimes just poetic and personal views on the abysses in our heads.”
As if they were soundtracking an after-hours club in the middle of nowhere, NONEXISTER swings like a pendulum between moments of industrial ecstasy and mosh pit-ready outbursts.
DEMONS TRACK LISTING:
Your Pain Up My Veins”
Drowning In The Void”
How Do You Dare”
A Promise In The Air”
Where Does Your Mind Go”
Kater”
Storm”
Head In A Hole”
What A Lie”
Flying With The Crows”
2048″
ABOUT NONEXISTER
“The first album I bought was Computer World by Kraftwerk, and the second was No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith by Motörhead – which pretty much describes where I come from,” laughs Marco. “For me, creating music is about creating atmospheres. I like to conjure soundscapes. I try to bring beauty into noise. Nik has a different approach. He’s a songwriter, and he aims to tell stories. The lyrics are very important – and he’s an amazing singer. So, it’s a thrilling match.”
Co-founders Marco and Nik drew on dynamic and distinct backgrounds at the onset of the project. Marco, the electronic maverick, honed his creativity and stage presence in the likes of Swandive, Division Kent, me.man.machine., and Glitter Wasteland, gracing the stages of major festivals and cities across Europe.
Meanwhile, Nik powered the punk upstarts Catchpole, and he voices one of the robots of the ground-breaking robot band Compressorhead, for which John Wright, frontman of the Hanson Brothers and drummer for the legendary No Means No, writes the music and is the voice of the robot singer. Simultaneously, Nik has entrenched himself in Switzerland’s dynamic subculture scene including the legendary Wohlgroth and fostering the launch of initiatives such as independent cultural and political force Radio Stadtfilter.
NONEXISTER are Marco Neeser [electronics, songwriting, production], Nik Leuthold [vocals, songwriting, production], Reto “Fu” Gaffuri [bass], Siro Müller [drums, backing vocals], and Silvan Gerhard [guitar, backing vocals].
FIND NONEXISTER ONLINE: