Tape Mask / Stand to Refuse / Without You by Belleruche

More sultry, strange trip-hop and DIY electronic soul, "Tape Mask" is available on platforms now, while "Stand To Refuse" drops at the end of November, and "Without You" drops on December 5th.

"Tape Mask" is a swung blues vocals over a growling analogue synth, pulsing soul stabs, and overdriven guitar. Stripped back electronic soul music heard through a vintage speaker, staring at the stars, thinking about days to come and those that have gone.

"Stand To Refuse" is a south-west sub-bass meets sixties eastern mystical chords and both are pushed roughly along by lead booted drums. Kathrin's vocals channel spoken word protest poetry and call for joining in unity against modern systems that seek to divide and reduce us.

"Without You" is a sinister low-end synth backing up a bass guitar propelled by nervous energy. Double and ghosted vocals battle the pulse of the clipped percussion like an ECG readout. A guitar solo chopped and screwed that seems to be in exile from a yacht rock b-side. Whatever it is Belleruche makes, this is an emotional example of it.

A decade older, possibly wiser, and certainly more thoughtful, Kathrin deBoer, Ricky Fabulous, and DJ Modest have recorded new music that pulls at the thread that was left by Belleruche and which interprets our varied experiences through a curious window of distorted glass. And we're unsure which side we are looking through.

Living in Western society over the last four decades brings about complexity; the privilege combined with any semblance of self-awareness, empathy, and curiosity results in questions. Questioning the future isn't a business with much of a return on the emotional investment currently.

Writing and producing music, therefore, can seem like a luxury. It is a luxury. Over the period of not recording together, the trio has worked hard, teaching, caring, building, in different parts of the world, in different ways with different people and results. It seemed strange then, when the opportunity to write and record music together again arrived, how the pieces seemed to fit together in much the same way as they did before.

The band is sincerely happy with the result; the tracks finished so far seem to have an emotional resonance that carries on from the previous records we made, but have an additional attitude and tone that reflects the complicated modern world we live in. Thanks for listening. Released on the band's own Hippoflex Recording Industries imprint, the new music will be released over the second half of 2025.

Belleruche - Tape Mask / Stand to Refuse / Without You
Release Date November/December 2025
Label Hippoflex Recording Industries

Tracklist
1. Belleruche - Tape Mask
2. Belleruche - Stand to Refuse
3. Belleruche - Without You