WATCH: Schande – ‘Relevant Campaigns’

Having been a big fan of noise-pop-shoegaze-tinged legends Schande for a while now, with my love of them being revived when they charmed our ears playing our first gig back after covid in 2021, I’m super excited to hear that they’ll be releasing their new album in April this year, via Thurston and Eva Moore’s record label. And now, following last year’s scuzzy ’52 Hz’, they’ve shared a truly enchanting new single.

To be honest, I can’t seem to stop listening to ‘Relevant Campaigns‘ and crying. It’s a thing of pure beauty. Its twinkling grace. The whirring to-ing and fro-ing, like the constant rippling of the tide that keeps going even when everything else seems like it’s stopped. The shimmering hooks that rise and fall. Jen Chochinov’s whispering vocals fading in and out with an understated melancholy.

Written while Jen’s mother was terminally ill, it’s an exquisite rumination on the fragility of life and the strength of love. Of the track, she explains:

“It was a way to conjure love and healing and try to balance out my own fear and anxiety which felt all too consuming. After my mom passed away at the end of 2023, this song being released now feels like a gifted timely reminder to hold on to what was shared while navigating loss. ‘Relevant Campaigns’ is essentially about picking your battles, to really assess where your priorities and energies lay because time is such a finite resource. More to the point it’s about choosing love, hope, and resilience.”

‘Relevant Campaigns’ is accompanied by a really beautiful animated video. Co-created by Sarah Lippett and Duncan Barrett, it perfectly depicts the heartfelt sentiment of the track as the protagonist engages in a stirring silent dialogue with the moon. Watch it here:

Once Around, the upcoming new album from Schande, is set for release in April via The Daydream Library Series, the house record label of Thurston and Eva Moore’s Ecstatic Peace Library collective.

Mari Lane
@marimindles

Photo Credit: Heidi Weber