Civilistjävel! - Generalstrejk (2020)

Since 2018, three archival, private-press volumes of previously-unheard music from subterranean Swedish project Civilistjävel! have been released. Drawn from an extensive cache of material recorded in the late '90s and early 2000s using mostly Juno60 and KorgMS20, and startling in its accomplishment and emotional eloquence, Civilistjävel!'s M.O. ranges from intimate, melodic minimal synth nocturnes through to deep, droning, Chain Reaction-esque techno ice-scapes, all of it austere but full of nameless, 30-days-of-night yearning. 'Generalstrejk' represents the first "contemporary" offering from Civilistjävel! to appear on record: the 20-minute-long title track is a concussive, steamrolling epic derived from live performances given in London and Stockholm in 2019. The three tracks of unknown vintage on the B-side revisit the pure arctic dread of the archival work - all brittle, abstract dub phantasms and glowering industrial ambience.