Coldwave

Coldwave is a style of Post-Punk music that originated in Europe in the late 1970s and early 1980s and is known for its dark, minimalistic atmosphere and heavy reliance on synthesizers. It was popular predominantly in continental Europe (especially in France, Poland, and Belgium) and consisted largely of bands that were heavily influenced by British post-punk acts such as Joy Division and Siouxsie and The Banshees. These British acts themselves are sometimes referred to as coldwave in those countries. Coldwave was influenced by the advent of affordable synthesizers and recording devices, as well as tense political climate informed by the Cold War. The genre inherited Punk music's decisively DIY aesthetic, but sounded more controlled, "colder", and usually featured emotionless, detached vocal delivery. Polish coldwave bands such as Siekiera were more directly influenced by guitar-driven post-punk music, while French and Belgian artists such as Clair Obscur and Siglo XX incorporated more synths and electronics and crossed over heavily with Minimal Synth. The exact definition of what constitutes coldwave may vary between countries, however all coldwave bands share a dark, metallic atmosphere and incorporate both guitars and synths. Coldwave mostly declined in popularity through the 1990s. However, the early to mid-2000s saw a renewed interest in the genre, with many labels now working to reissue old coldwave 7" records and cassettes together with demos and unreleased songs. This renewed interest also saw an emergence of a new retrospective term, Minimal Wave, which groups together aesthetically similar genres such as minimal synth and more minimal types of post-punk, Synthpop and New Wave, sometimes also crossing over with coldwave.