Formed back in 2013, the Swedish synth pop/darkwave duo White Birches — Jenny Gabrielsson Mare and Fredrik Jonasson — quickly received attention across Scandinavia with the release of 2014’s debut EP Stands of White Birches and 2015’s full-length debut, Dark Waters, which saw the pair establishing a eerily moody sound that some compared to the likes Depeche Mode, Cocteau Twins and The Sisters of Mercy. Adding to a growing profile across the region, the duo’s full-length debut received a Best Synth nomination at that year’s Swedish Indie Grammy Awards, Manifestgalan.

The duo signed with Progress Productions, who released their sophomore album, 2017’s When The Street Calls, which featured the 4AD Records heyday-like “Howl.”

The Swedish synth outfit’s highly-anticipated third full-length album, A New Reign will feature their latest single “Breathing,” which the pair says sets the tone for the entire album. Featuring thunderous, industrial-like thump, layers of eerily atmospheric synths and bursts of scorching feedback as a brooding and stormy bed for Gabrielsson Mare’s dreamily intense delivery.

“Breathing,” captures a narrator, desperately holding on to a thin thread of what might be left of their sanity, and under intense pressure, trying to take long, slow breaths to get themselves right; to get their mind and heart to stop racing . . . It shouldn’t be surprising that the song might evoke how unsettled, unstable and desperate you might feel right this moment. Keep breathing.