Michigan – Pulse of Pain

Release date: 24-08-2007, Label: Memento License / infacted recordings
By: Nina Mende

  I have seen Michigan live twice now, both times as they were touring with De/Vision.
  The first time I just didn’t know what to think of them, and the second time
  I totally fell in love with their music so I just had to get their new album
  “Pulse of pain”, and I got it.

  But let me tell you something about Michigan first, before I start telling
  you about the album:
  It started out back in the early 90´s, when Jonas and Peter met up with
  Jesper to share and talk about “synth-music”. They got together, started
  writing songs all just for fun, and recorded some demos that they have up to
  date kept for themselves. They really didn´t take anything that seriously,
  they just liked to make some good noise from the keyboards.

  This went on for a couple of years, but in 1999 it was decided that they should
  go into a studio and make a demo which featured the song “Miseries”
  among a couple of others. At that stage they haven´t decided which one
  of them who would be the lead singer of the band. After a little twisting and
  turning it was to be found that Peter Ehn was the right choice. And today, Peter,
  with his warmth and depth, really brings out the best of the songs. Nothing
  happened with the demo, but they decided to go for it again, at Crimson Productions.

  Jonas had been away for half a year, but came home with some fresh ideas that
  was put together in the computer. So they recorded “So Astray”, “Want
  , Need, Me” and “Domination” and came in contact with the record
  label of Memento Materia. They invited the guys to a contest, where the winner
  would end up with a contract. And as you can see it turned out well, today they´re
  signed by Memento Materia.
  In autumn 2002, the album was finished, and has been out on the market since
  the 27th of Jan 2003, and the guys feels really proud of it.
  Now, since October 5th, their new (and also 3rd studio) album “Pulse of
  pain” has been released.

  The album doesn’t only have a very interesting cover – it reminds of matrix
  and some insides of the muscles. The longer you look at it, the more you will
  discover. And the same do I feel with the band and music itself. The more I
  look at it or listen to it, the more I discover and the more I really start
  loving it. As I said before, Peter (the singer) has a wonderful warm and melodic
  voice that fits perfectly well to the electronic beats and melodies. The smooth
  melodies enter your head and heart easily, the lyrics are clear and easy to
  understand and yet deep. Michigan has something mysterious to me, I can’t really
  describe it, like the horizon that you will never reach. Really amazing.

  “Hang on” is their rock song because it contains guitar riffs and
  sounds a little bit like one. “Mysterious (Infected World)” has some
  oriental sounds mixed with the synth-music and gives it the strange and mysterious
  sound that makes the song complete.
  The song “Pioneers” starts out with a preach about some verses of
  the Genesis chapter, this doesn’t only “arise the deepest emotions”
  for Jonas, who wrote all songs on the album, but also means a lot to me. I wouldn’t
  say it’s a religious song, but a magical, and I guess everybody will have some
  emotions coming up listening to this song.
  The closing song “Pulse of Pain” sounds like a song by a hunter and
  the hunted. Jonas sings the opening and the bridges with a dark, smoky and evil-sounding voice, while Peter sings the verses in his melodic, warm and soft voice. Gorgeous
  how they play with your emotions just like that.

  The first song on the album, which was also the first single released off the
  album is called “The Nomad”. I tell you about it at last because I
  also have the single, which contains four remixes of the song, two of them by
  other bands I heard of before and even saw live: Iris and Frozen Plasma. Further
  is the song “the Sirens Sounds” on the Cd single, an unreleased song.
  “The Nomad” is a wonderful song to dance to and very melodic, a song
  that spreads happiness and joy in my opinion. The remix by Iris is more pop
  than the album version, great for clubs. The Jack’s Black remix, the 2nd remix
  on the CD single, is more electronic and they vary with the volume a lot which
  gives it a funky and spacey sound. The “Frozen Plasma” remix has loud,
  hard and cold electronic beats, though, which makes it sound more industrial.
  The next song on the CD is “The sirens sound”, a so far unreleased
  song with gorgeous vocals, wonderful for cold winternights with all the Christmas
  decoration I think. The last song on the Single is “the Nomad” Code
  64 remix by Alchem with fast electronic beats, speeding up the song quite a
  lot. They also added female backing vocals to it. It sounds interesting, because
  it’s not much like the original version anymore. But as I said, Michigan IS
  interesting. A great Synth Band from Sweden!!!

Michigan are:
  Peter Ehn, Lead singer
  Jonas Öberg, Keyboard, Chorus
  Jesper Ljungberg, Keyboard, programming

Links:

Michigan official
Michigan Myspace