Biography

HarmJoy, an electronic music collaboration between German and American artists Olaf Reimers and Dan Von Hoyel will release their second full album, "Iron Curtain Velvet Glove" on 26 April, 2019. With music composed by Nordenham based Olaf Reimers (of the German EBM band Tyske Ludder) and vocals and lyrics by San Francisco based Dan Von Hoyel (from the Swedish synthpop band Titans), this new album continues the dark melodic, industrial/synthpop theme of their debut album "Silver Lining of the Mushroom Cloud", but with a greater focus on intense dance beats and rich vocals. The new album features remixes by other dark scene European bands including Blutengel, New Division, Northborn, and Titans, as well as a cover of the popular 1980s song, Fluss, by the German band, Rheingold. Being a loose translation of the German word Schadenfreude, their band name HarmJoy suggests the two-sided aspect of most of their songs, with hard-driving rhythms and foreboding tones combined with thoughtful lyrics that are simultaneously bitter and hopeful. Forming the band in 2012 after meeting at Amphifestival in Koeln, Germany in 2011, Reimers and Von Hoyel produced this and their previous album and EPs working entirely remotely on their respective music and vocals, sharing files over the internet. Nevertheless, since 2015, they have met and performed together as HarmJoy.