Description
What if “Encore!” wasn’t the end of the story but the explosion after the applause?
With “Balancing Chaos”, THE NAMES tear open the songs of “Encore!” and let others rewire their DNA. 13 remixes deconstruct, reshape and reignite the material, before 4 original tracks bring everything back into focus. Not as a return to the past, but as proof of transformation.
The groove has shifted. The perspective has widened. This is not a remix album as accessory. This is a parallel dimension. Sound revisited. Sound reimagined. THE NAMES have always balanced melancholy with movement. Here, they push that tension further than ever. If “Encore!” reaffirmed their timeless identity – born out of the legendary Factory Records era alongside JOY DIVISION and NEW ORDER – then “Balancing Chaos” dares to dismantle that identity and reassemble it in motion. Taking what exists. Breaking it apart. Preserving the core. Creating chaos from order – and then sculpting a new balance.
Jean-Marc Lederman’s tribute-laced take on “Watching For The New World” – dedicated to Annik Honoré – opens the album in cinematic, emotional depth. From there, the pulse intensifies. Ukrainian HARD FACTS injects “Procrastination” with urgent, war-forged club energy. Producer Gil Robert becomes a central architect of the album’s sonic mutations and his multiple reworks slide from retro-futuristic drive to dark electro-pop elegance and shadowy ambient tension. Elsewhere, the reinterpretations spiral outward, coming from an eclectic panel of artists like the unique Mike Theis (known for his work with TRICKY/MASSIVE ATTACK), EDEN, NEVEL, HALCYON LOOP, Rob G. Nichols, DISKODIKTATOR or yet ERROR FATE. Beats harden, basslines deepen, textures freeze into glacial synthscapes or spiral into hypnotic loops. The dancefloor becomes laboratory…
Each remix preserves the lyrical DNA and melodic essence of THE NAMES – those unmistakable vocals, that tension between melancholy and momentum – yet opens unexpected corridors. Words dance on new beats. Meanings shift without betrayal. This is not a polite remix collection. It’s controlled demolition. Familiar melodies fracture, vocals gain new weight, grooves turn physical.
Where “Encore!” celebrated continuity, “Balancing Chaos” celebrates transformation. Chaos is introduced – but never without purpose. And that’s the point! THE NAMES are not a heritage act protecting a legacy. They are fearless enough to let their songs mutate. “Balancing Chaos” shows a band still unpredictable, still daring, still ready to jump into new dimensions of sound. And what if the jump isn’t forward but sideways?
With “Balancing Chaos”, THE NAMES deliver another “Encore!” but not as you expect it. Not a repetition. A mutation. THE NAMES are not a heritage act revisiting former glories. They are fluid. fearless. open… From post-punk roots to dark electro pop, from ambient abstraction to club propulsion, “Balancing Chaos” shows a band willing to jump onto the dancefloor – and into the unknown – without losing identity. The unpredictability is the point. Reinvention is the tradition.
Prepare for shifting textures. Prepare for shadows illuminated by strobes. Prepare for balance meeting chaos – and finding a new equilibrium.
THE NAMES are timeless. And still moving.
When balance meets chaos, THE NAMES do not fall apart.
They evolve.
