Kirlian Camera

Kirlian Camera is an Italy-based group mainly playing electronic dark wave music. The project was founded in Parma in 1979 by Angelo Bergamini and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene. By 1980, Bergamini had recruited singer Simona Buja, keyboardist Fabrizio Chiari and bassist Mauro Montacchini to form Kirlian Camera. Their demo cassette 'Dawn' attracted the attention of Italian Records, a popular independent label. Christmas 1981 saw the release of their debut vinyl which despite being low-budget immediately sold-out prompting a re-issued, with it finally selling more than 6000 copies. Not long after the band had constant lineup changes, Simona left but rejoins straight away then the following year, Montacchini leaves being replaced by Giorgio Vecchi. Eventually they were the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records.

Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also took part in the Italian Italo disco group Hipnosis, which won a platinum award for sales in Germany, and had a top-10 hit in several European countries and South America with their single "Pulstar". Angelo unexpectedly decides to leave the pop-music to concentrate on Kirlian Camera. During the second half of the Eighties, the sound of Kirlian Camera became gradually darker, moving away from the synth pop sound that marked some of their early releases. In 1988, Buja leaves Kirlian Camera and the band have temporary singers Bianca Hoffmann-Santos and Suzanne Reddington-Gardner who are replaced for a while by Emilia Lo Jacono. Despite this the band release a 2 CD collection called 'The Ice Curtain' with new singer, Barbara Boffelli. In 1993, they signed to German label Discordia, which licensed the self-produced album 'Todesengel, The Fall of Life'. 1995 came to see them collaborate with label mates Dive on the 'Obsession' EP and :wumpscut:. During 2000 the lineup is stabilized when talented singer/composer/writer Elena Alice Fossi joins Kirlian Camera. She is also the leader of side-projects Alice Neve Fox, Spectra*Paris and Siderartica, and co-leader in the Stalingrad project with Bergamini himself. During 2013, Kirlian Camera release 'Black Summer Choirs'. [SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA]