More than 20 years after Soulwax helped wire rock music to the club mainframe they return with ‘All Systems Are Lying’, a record that, like Daft Punk's ‘Random Access Memories’, feels both ferociously modern and defiantly handmade.
Composed entirely from modular synths, live drums and tape machines, it’s billed as “a rock album without guitars.” But the real trick is how emotional and corporeal it feels. This isn’t a concept piece disguised as a record, it’s a record that has a strong, occasionally overwhelming, concept.
Across its runtime, Soulwax sharpen their commentary on digital erosion and capitalist conditioning, but rather than drowning in preachiness, they weaponise rhythm.
Take Polaris, a marching, paranoid slow burn that locks into a motorik stomp while warning: “You don’t seem to realise / It’s happening right in front of you.” That line could be tattooed across the album’s sleeve — it’s an alarm bell cleverly disguised as a hook.
Run Free is a glorious collision of human error and synthetic discipline. Its spiralling arpeggios and tumbling drums recall the hi-tech delirium of prime Soulwax, but there’s something new here: vulnerability. “Play the wrong chord / Say something stupid,” goes the mantra. It’s a rejection of algorithmic perfection, a tiny rebellion you can dance to.
The standout, though, is Gimme a Reason. Building from skeletal pulses into a towering emotional release, it has the narrative patience of LCD Soundsystem’s Someone Great and the textural bite of latter-day Depeche Mode, but it remains unmistakably Soulwax: layered, physical, euphoric, slightly mad.
Closer Distant Symphony ends things with unnerving restraint, a piano figure haunted by the ghosts of everything that came before. There’s no beat, no sermon, just a quiet moment that refuses resolution. After all the synthetic muscle and ideological static, Soulwax leave us suspended.
‘All Systems Are Lying’ is a thrilling contradiction — paranoid but playful, brutalist but groovy, militant in purpose but joyous in sound. What it occasionally lacks in bangers, it makes up for in high-concept, demanding electro-pop that will get heads nodding and toes tapping. The systems may be lying, but it feels like David and Stephen Dewaele are telling the truth.
Soulwax Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Wed January 14 2026 - MANCHESTER O2 Victoria Warehouse
Thu January 15 2026 - LONDON O2 Academy Brixton
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
