Edinburgh electronic pop duo Gefahrgeist tackle religion, feminism and guilt in their first 2023 release ‘Reach’.
Gefahrgeist are comprised of vocalist and songwriter Fiona Liddell and Niall Rae, who handles production and arrangement. Since their debut release of ‘Graceless’ in 2020, Gefahrgeist had a busy 2021 releasing singles ‘Nukular’, ‘Parasites’ and ‘Orbit.’ The latter of these featuring Edinburgh based rapper Conscious Route. It was a quieter 2022 with ‘Limbo‘ being the only official release. 2023 starts strong for the duo with their incredible new single ‘Reach’.
‘Reach’ is performed live at most of Gefahrgeist’s shows. You can check out some of the different iterations over the years on the band’s Instagram. There’s been acoustic performances, piano performances but now we have the studio version. Fiona and Niall are joined on this track by Jack Hinks and Kevin Mclean with Hinks also providing the artwork. If you’re a fan of Kate Bush, Florence + The Machine or Lindsey Stirling, Gefahrgeist may also be for you.
The song begins with haunting chanted backing vocals that remain throughout the verses. Religion plays a big role in the lyrics and subtle organ sounds reinforce this theme in the build up to the chorus. We then get the introduction of a violin which makes for a really big sounding verse. There’s another chorus before we get a lovely middle 8 which includes my favourite lyric of this track, ‘I die in vain for gold I’ll never find.’ After a final chorus the organ and chanting return as the song fades out to a final time of 4 minutes and 48 seconds, which is fairly short by Gefahrgeist standards.
The track really is a triumph and hopefully the duo can bring us more wonderful songs this year. I’d be very intrigued to see a full live show. They currently have two live shows planned in the coming months, HMV Glasgow on the 8th of April and supporting Craig Eddie on the 5th of May at Sneaky Pete’s in Edinburgh. Be sure to check out Gefahrgeist via their social media, which you can find below.