Judaskyssen return with the epic ravedeath of "Vit flagg"

The first single "En gång om året" / "Noah" was an incredible introduction to former IKONS pair Carl Hedén and Patrik Johansson, and on "Vit flagg" we find Judaskyssen delivering an even more enormous tune.

Opening with DJ Shadow-style breakbeats backed with slow motion rave-y synths, the track adds breathy Swedish vocals, a soulful choir backing and doomy major piano chords to give the effect of being at some sort of Lynchian club night where darkness is punctuated only with punishing strobing and crackling, teeth-shaking white noise. "Vit flagg" is oppressive, and completely brilliant.

We spoke to Judaskyssen to find out a little bit more on the elusive duo.

Who or what are Judaskyssen?

"Judaskyssen is Carl and Patrik. We used to play together in the 7-piece band IKONS and were almost neighbours so we hung out a lot. We were both going through pretty dramatic changes in our lives at the time and became close friends. The idea of starting a band of our own grew over time and suddenly we had a couple of songs. It was our free zone where we could be completely uncompromising. When IKONS split around NYE 2013 we decided to put all our efforts into the new project. The music is basically a mishmash of everything we like, usually arranged into pop songs but sometimes not. Romanticist lyrics over deep basses and drum machines. Soft verses and loud choruses would be another way to describe it."

What can you tell us about this new track?

"It was one of the first tracks we made as Judaskyssen and it has existed in a couple of different versions. For ourselves it has defined the idea of the band and what we want to do. 'Vit flagg' is about surrender, about giving up. A lot of people try too much these days. They have forgotten the fine art of giving up or surrender."

Who or what influences the band?

"The true answer is also the boring one: it depends. It can be a childhood memory or a song on the radio that triggers something creative. Then the method is to put everything else on hold and ride on that wave until the song is finished."

What does 2017 have in store for Judaskyssen?

"We plan to release a full length album and hopefully play a couple of shows. We've only done one live performance so far and that part of Judaskyssen is still so unexplored and excites us a lot."