Austrian three-piece zeronic return with ‘The Aftermath (Longing For Her Skin)’, the final single to be released ahead of their forthcoming album Modernism, due October 2nd.
Where much of Modernism explores the pressures, contradictions and uncertainties of contemporary life, ‘The Aftermath (Longing For Her Skin)’ turns inward, occupying the strange emotional space that follows the end of a relationship. It is a song about absence and memory, and about the way someone can remain present long after they have left your life.
Built around shimmering guitars and an immediate, expansive chorus, the track has a strong sense of forward movement without ever quite escaping its emotional gravity. Longing runs through the song, coupled with the recognition that the past cannot simply be discarded. Instead, it resurfaces unexpectedly, prompted by a film, a poem, a song or some otherwise insignificant detail that suddenly brings someone back into focus.
As zeronic explain, “The Aftermath“ is about what remains when something between two people is already over. You move on, but that person keeps appearing in the smallest things – a film, a poem, a song. And suddenly, all that longing is there again.”
Musically, the single reflects zeronic’s longstanding relationship with 1980s pop and rock, particularly the post-punk movement. The influence of artists such as Talking Heads, The Cure and David Bowie can be heard in the balance between atmosphere, melody and momentum, while the band’s own history gives the track a directness that keeps its emotional core firmly in view.
As the final preview of Modernism, ‘The Aftermath (Longing For Her Skin)’ offers another glimpse into a record that marks a new chapter for zeronic. Rather than presenting itself as a comeback, the album feels like a continuation, taking the emotional rawness of the band’s earliest releases and filtering it through everything they have learned since. It brings together the urgency that first defined zeronic with a sharper and more deliberate understanding of who they are now.
At its core, Modernism considers what it means to remain human in a world defined by constant acceleration. Across its ten tracks, the album returns to questions of connection and isolation, optimism and disillusionment, belonging and escape. Rather than simply rejecting the modern world, zeronic explore its contradictions and look for the things that remain worth holding onto amid the unease.
“Modernism is about trying to remain human in a world that’s constantly being optimised,” the band explains. “The songs explore the tensions of modern life — connection and isolation, progress and disillusionment, belonging and escape. But beneath those ideas, it’s really a record about people trying to hold on to what matters and find one another.”
zeronic’s story stretches back to the 1990s, when the band emerged from the Austrian alternative scene. Having grown up in a rural environment before relocating to Vienna, the group had to carve out space for itself from the beginning, an experience that would help shape the emotional and euphoric character of its music.
“those early years— having to carve out space and make ourselves heard— really defined us.”
By 2000, zeronic were opening for Bryan Adams at the Liebenau Arena in Graz in front of more than 10,000 people. Their 2001 debut album High Life produced the single ‘zero’, a major radio hit that earned the band an Amadeus Austrian Music Award nomination. Further albums and extensive touring across Austria and Germany followed, alongside a collaboration with producer Gareth Jones, known for his work with Depeche Mode and Nick Cave, and appearances alongside New Order, Queens of the Stone Age, Stereophonics and The Kills.
Listen to the new single below:
