"Die One More Time" is a breathtaking reflection on loss and a welcome return for Cancer

Other than playing the occasional live show, Nikolaj Manuel Vonsild (When Saints Go Machine) and Kristian Finne Kristensen (Chorus Grant) have been extremely quiet since they released the Ragazzi EP a couple of years ago under the name Cancer. Today, we can bring you their first track from their debut album Totem, due out in January 2017.

When we spoke to the duo back in September 2014 and reflected on the weight behind the band's name and their beautiful amalgam of blues,electronica and classic song writing, it was clear that their music was about much more than the disease from which they took their name. Cancer sing and write of universal themes, stories we all know and experience: death, loss, love. All of human life is here, communicated and worked through the only way they know how.

"Die One More Time" is stark in title and in its sonic approach.

There's always been a live, organic feel to Cancer's music and this new track simply hones and enhances all that's great about the band. There's a huge space here between the minimal instrumentation; jazzy drums echo around the recording space, with Kristian Finne Kristensen's spidery guitar lines sneaking into the grace notes alongside a gently bouncing bass line. Nikolaj Vonsild's vocals draw you in slowly - he has a quivering falsetto which recalls Anohni, yet is sharper at the edges. His lyrics are equally as sharp and incisive; a meditation on loss and the endless cycle of reliving it each day, Vonsild's voice almost wavers to a crack as he sings "Each time I wake up I die one more time / Die one more time / Each time I wake up I die one more time / This is the largest abandoned factory in the world".

"Die One More Time" is out today, and Totem will be available January 27, 2017 via Tambourhinoceros