German singer-songwriter Yvonne “Niobe” Cornelius penned songs that juxtaposed heavily processed vocals against a surrealistic backdrop of jazz, exotic, electronic archetypes. The resulting creations are both nostalgic (harking back to the pre-war cabaret) and atmospheric in a psychedelic, Angelo Badalamenti-influenced way. Tse Tse (Sonig, 2002) was a bold experiment in smothering pop music into moody electronica and further disorienting the listener with effects that are the musical equivalent of Brecht-ian estrangement. The basic arrangement is always a mix of voices and electronic sounds, and the “songs” can sound like Dadaistic variations on Brian Eno’s impressionistic electronic vignettes (Tic Tac). But the anemic constructs of Nachtsendung and Little Things Of Frenzy inhabit a rather introverted world: their melodies emerge from an existential void.