Echo Image

Echo Image is a Norwegian synthpop band from Fredrikstad. The band started in the summer of 1997 when Pål Magnus Rybom and Jon-Ivar Berg started experimenting with electronic music. That summer the two of them recorded a demo. Berg left the group after they failed attract the attention of record labels and went to focus on his music project Biozide. Later that year Fredrik Hansen joined and Echo Image was officially formed with Trine Bilet joining towards the end of the year providing backing vocals, keyboards, and synthesizers.[1][2]

Echo Image
OriginFredrikstad, Norway
GenresSynth-pop, futurepop
Years active1997–present
LabelsBloodline, A Different Drum, Hard:Drive, HolmByKarlsen Rekords, Kvarts Musikk, Pitch Black Drive
MembersPål-Magnus Rybom
Past membersJon-Ivar Berg, Trine Bilet, Fredrik Hansen, Lars Kristian Holt

In December 1998, Echo Image recorded the Walkout EP, which was sold locally through a label called Kvarts Musikk. Their musical style didn't really suit Kvarts, whose catalog consisted of punk, prog, and lo-fi music; so in 2000 they signed to US synthpop label A Different Drum with the German label Bloodline releasing their music in Europe. Around this time Lars Kristian Holt joined as live guitarist and became a full-time member in July 2001.

The 2000 single Need to Be Proud was mixed by Apoptygma Berzerk frontman Stephan Groth. Compuphonic was released in 2001 and peaked at #28 on the CMJ RPM Charts in the U.S.[3] After releasing Compuphonic simultaneously on A Different Drum and Bloodline, they signed with Hard:Drive and released the Endless Day single in 2002. Echo Image accompanied Apoptygma Berzerk on the Harmonizer tour in 2002. Hansen left the band in 2004 due to creative differences and to focus on his education. Around the same time, the band announced that they were working on a new album and released a teaser for the song "My Sense of Emptiness".[4]

The 2001 Single Skulk, which included a cover of Limahl's song "The NeverEnding Story", was also featured in the dancing games Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 2[5] and the Konami remix in Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX 4,[6] both for the Xbox video-game system.

In July 2010, a new demo song, "Things I Know" was released to YouTube, along with a new interview of Pål Magnus Rybom who mentioned that he is working on a new Echo Image album.[7]

On 1 October 2010, Echo Image played a live concert at ElektroStat.[8]

In April 2016, vinyl-only compilation, Compulation, was released on the label HolmByKarlsen Rekords. It features the previously unreleased track, "Frame of Mind".[9]

In January 2020, the band signed to Apoptygma Berzerk's label Pitch Black Drive and re-released all of their old material digitally. They also announced that they were working on a new single.[10]

In March 2021, a new single, Walk My Mind, was released, five and a half years after a short clip of the song was featured on Echo Image's Facebook page.[11]

Discography

Studio albums
  1. Compuphonic (2001)

Compilation albums
  1. Compulation (2016)

EPs
  1. Walkout (1998)
  2. III EP (1999)
  3. Skulk (2001)
  4. Standing Alone (2001)

Singles
  1. Need to Be Proud (2000)
  2. Endless Day (2002)
  3. Walk My Mind (2021)
  4. Mono No Aware (2022)

Remix Work

Echo Image has done remixes for a number of other bands. The mixes to date are :

  1. Assemblage 23 - Document
  2. Count to Infinity - Popism
  3. The Echoing Green - Heart with a View
  4. The Echoing Green - The Story of Our Lives
  5. Fairlight Children - Before You Came Along
  6. Goteki - Phuturist
  7. Sweep - Emptiness, Your Loneliness
  8. Tristraum - Shiver

Members
  • Pål-Magnus Rybom - production, vocals (1997–present)
  • Jon-Ivar Berg – (1997)
  • Fredrik Hansen - synthesizers (1997–2004)
  • Trine Bilet - backing vocals, keyboards, synthesizers (1997–?)
  • Lars Kristian Holt – guitar (2001–?)

References
  1. "History". echo image - official website. Archived from the original on 24 July 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  2. "History". Echo Image. Archived from the original on 26 July 2001. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  3. Comer, M. Tye (4 June 2001). "RPM" (PDF). CMJ New Music Report. New York, NY: College Media, Inc. 67 (717): 15. ISSN 0890-0795. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  4. "News". echo image - official website. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  5. "Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX2 (Xbox) (North America) - Game Database - DanceDanceRevolution". Zenius -I- vanisher -5th style- II. Archived from the original on 15 April 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  6. "Dance Dance Revolution ULTRAMIX4 (Xbox) (North America) - Game Database - DanceDanceRevolution". Zenius -I- vanisher -5th style- II. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  7. "Interview (Video): Echo Image". NEROTUNES. Archived from the original on 25 July 2010. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  8. Eliasson, Tobias. "ElektroStat, Månefisken, Oslo, Norway, October 1-2, 2010". Release Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 12 August 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  9. Van Isacker, Bernard. "Norwegian synthpop act Echo Image returns after 14 years of silence with vinyl only release 'Compulation'". Side-Line Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 22 September 2017. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  10. "Echo Image". Facebook. Archived from the original on 9 May 2020. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  11. "First single from Echo Image in 20 years". Retrieved 21 May 2021.
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