The Mobile Homes' new album, Tristesse, features Nitzer Ebb's Bon Harris

The Mobile Homes have released “Throne,” the first single from their forthcoming album, Tristesse. “Throne” features vocal contributions from Nitzer Ebb’s Bon Harris who appears in the music video as a giant, Oz-like head.

You can pre-order Tristesse from your preferred music source.

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The long-running Swedish act The Mobile Homes will return this fall with a new album called Tristesse. It arrives September 22, 2023.

Tristesse, the French word for sorrow, will be The Mobile Homes’ eighth studio album in a career that spans nearly 40 years. It will contain 11 tracks of melancholic synthpop. Most notably, Nitzer Ebb composer and multi-instrumentalist Bon Harris appears on a song called “Throne.”

Here’s how the press notes describe the album:

On this album, The Mobile Homes refine their established sound to perfection. Every single note feels well balanced, and the atmospherically beautiful and whimsical vocal loops crawl under the skin of the listener. To manage to get such a melancholic collection of songs to still feel uplifting and life-affirming is a piece of art in itself. This musical soft plaid will keep you warm during the long, dreary autumn months.

Tristesse comes just two years after The Mobile Homes’ big comeback album, Trigger, their first new release in 11 years. Included on my list of the best albums of 2021, Trigger was a slow-burning masterpiece stacked with gloomy, romantic songs, such as “Mirror” and “The Sorrow Stays for Good.”

No one does melancholic synthpop quite like The Mobile Homes. The band formed in Sweden in 1984 and was initially compared to Depeche Mode. Early in their career, they supported Laibach and Nitzer Ebb on their Scandinavian tours. The Mobile Homes’ current lineup consists of founders Patrik Brun, Andreas Brun, and Hans Erkendal, along with former members of Kent, Sami Sirviö and Markus Mustonen.