Kirlian Camera (band)

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This page is about the band named Kirlian Camera. For other meanings of Kirlian Camera, see Kirlian Camera (disambiguation)

Kirlian Camera
Origin	Parma, Italy
Genre(s)	Synthpop darkwave
Years active	1980–present
Label(s)	Discordia, Nova Tekk, Trisol, Triton, Virgin Music
Website	http://www.kirliancamera.com
Members
Angelo Bergamini, Elena Fossi

Kirlian Camera is an Italian group playing mostly electronic darkwave music. The group was founded in 1980 by Angelo Bergamini, and was a pioneering act of the Italian synthpop scene, eventually being the first Italian group to be signed to Virgin Records. ^[1]

Between 1982 and 1984, Bergamini also played in the Italian spacesynth/italodisco group Hipnosis, which earned a platinum record for album sales in Germany, and had a top-10 hit throughout Europe with their single "Pulstar".

During the eighties, Kirlian Camera's sound became progressively darker, moving away from the synth pop sound dominating their earlier releases. In 1993, they signed to the German label Discordia. 1995 saw them collaborate with labelmates Dive on Obsession EP.

On 26 April 1999, Kirlian Camera was drawn into the then-current sensationalism over Goth culture when they were off-handedly mentioned by social scientist Alfred Schobert in der Spiegel, in an interview printed as a sidebar to a 4-page newspaper feature on the Columbine High School shootings. Schobert contended that the group (along with Death in June and Boyd Rice) was an example of a "neo-fascist element" in contemporary goth and EBM music, and accused them of performing a Hitler salute onstage. While the group issued a communique in their next CD rejecting any affinity with neo-nazi or racist groups[1], they were not allowed to respond in der Spiegel, and as a result show cancellations and protests by Anti-Fascist Action continued to dog them through 2002.

While the group's lineup has constantly changed over the years with many members joining and leaving, it has been relatively stable since 1999, with songwriter Angelo Bergamini being joined by full-time singer Elena Fossi.