Berlin darkwave project Vlimmer has released Augendrang, the third and final single from the upcoming sixth album Kiemenatmung. It came out on 23 October 2026 on Blackjack Illuminist Records.
The label puts the song “at the perfect Weltschmerz crossroads of new wave, post-punk, and darkwave.” Restless rhythms and an elastic bass groove run under cold synths, and the whole thing was written and performed by Vlimmer’s Alexander Leonard Donat.
It was also the last song written for the album. According to the label, Donat wrote and recorded its synths and drum machine in the half hour before a 2026 FIFA World Cup match.
The B-side is a surprise: The Bangles’ 1989 power ballad Eternal Flame, rebuilt as an industrial, darkgaze track and sung in German, with new German lyrics by Donat.
The two-track release is out digitally and as a handmade CD limited to 15 hand-numbered copies, each with its own painting. On streaming services, Augendrang appears as a three-track single alongside Atemdauer and Aufbeißer.
Kiemenatmung is due in early November 2026. It follows the September 2023 album Zerschöpfung, also released on Blackjack Illuminist Records.
Augendrang b/w Eternal Flame on Bandcamp – https://blackjackilluministrecords.bandcamp.com/album/augendrang-b-w-eternal-flame
Augendrang on Apple Music – https://music.apple.com/us/album/augendrang-single/6822757000
Vlimmer – Augendrang on Side-Line – https://www.side-line.com/vlimmer-augendrang-single/
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