Covenant

Covenant is a Swedish electronic group from Helsingborg, active since 1989. Its music combines EBM, synth-pop, futurepop, ambient and related electronic and industrial styles. The core members are Eskil Simonsson, Joakim Montelius, Clas Nachmanson, Daniel Myer and Andreas Catjar.

Formation and early years

The group forms in Helsingborg around the late 1980s, when Simonsson, Montelius and Nachmanson, then teenagers, share an interest in electronic music and ideas drawn from science and philosophy. They are influenced by artists and groups including Kraftwerk, The Human League, Depeche Mode, Front 242 and Nitzer Ebb. After seeing the first Front 242 concert in Scandinavia, they decide to start a band. While at university in Lund, they build a small recording setup in Nachmanson’s bedroom and begin writing their own material.

The name Covenant is chosen in 1988, reflecting the bond the trio feel they share. Their first publicly released track, “The Replicant”, appears on a compilation at the invitation of the Swedish label Memento Materia in 1992. The track leads to a full album deal.

Albums and label changes

Their debut album, Dreams of a Cryotank, appears in 1994. After its reception, the group expands its equipment, moves its studio and commits to touring. In 1995, they play a festival in Germany at the request of Off-Beat Records, which results in a record deal the next day.

Sequencer follows in 1996. The band also releases the single “Stalker” that year and tours Germany, Belgium and Holland with Haujobb and Steril. Sequencer is widely noted for its sequencing, strong melodies and forceful lyrics, and becomes a long-running club favourite. Later in 1996, the US label 21st Circuitry begins distributing the band’s albums in the United States.

In 1997, Covenant issues the Theremin EP specifically for North American release. Their third full-length album, Europa, arrives in 1998 and marks a move towards a more beat-driven synth-pop sound. The album charts in the United States on CMJ radio and RPM lists. Around this time, the group also enters a legal dispute with the Norwegian band then using the same name, leading to the Norwegian act changing its spelling.

After label changes in 1999, with Dependent, SubSpace Communications and Metropolis Records involved in different territories, Covenant’s earlier albums and the Theremin EP are reissued in the United States. United States of Mind follows in 2000, showing a further shift towards synth-pop. That year also sees the standalone single “Der Leiermann”, a version built around the melody of “Like Tears in Rain”. A live album, Synergy, appears later in 2000 with material from the first four albums.

Later releases and touring

Northern Light is released in 2002 and is described by the band as darker and more sombre than earlier work. The European release is handled by Ka2, while Metropolis issues the album in the United States. By this period, Montelius and Simonsson live in different countries, with Montelius in Barcelona and Simonsson in Berlin, while Nachmanson remains in Helsingborg.

Skyshaper follows in 2006. Before and after its release, the band tours across Europe and then the United States. In 2007, Nachmanson stops touring with the group and Daniel Myer joins as his replacement; the band later confirms Nachmanson’s departure in the documentary DVD In Transit, which documents the Skyshaper world tour across Europe, North America, South America and Russia.

In 2011, Covenant releases Modern Ruin, the first album to feature Myer as a core member. The EP Last Dance appears in 2013, followed by Leaving Babylon later the same year. The band tours North America in support of Leaving Babylon in 2015.

Their ninth studio album, The Blinding Dark, is released in 2016 and is followed by tours in Europe, the UK and the United States. In 2019, the band undertakes the “Fieldworks Tour” in Germany and releases the Fieldworks: Exkursion EP, which includes five band-written tracks and one collaboration with French electro-industrial artist Grabyourface. The material draws partly on field recordings collected over many years, including sounds from an electricity plant and from places the band has visited on tour. Covenant also headlines the final day of Terminus Festival in Calgary before playing several US dates.

Style and members

Covenant begins with a harsher EBM and electronic body music sound, then gradually moves towards synth-pop and futurepop. Across its history, the group’s membership includes Eskil Simonsson, Joakim Montelius, Clas Nachmanson, Daniel Myer and Andreas Catjar, with touring line-ups varying around the core studio formation.