dEUS frontman Tom Barman and producer CJ Bolland are teaming up once again under the moniker of Magnus and the result is nothing less than a revelation. If you’ve been the frontman of one of Europe’s most lauded and obsessed over alternative rock bands for more than two decades, maybe the best way to kick back and clear your head between records is to enter the studio with one of continent’s most respected producers of galloping 4/4 ultra-heavy techno and see what happens. Now less a side project and more a fusion of the disparate, complimentary talents, Magnus is the semi-regular rendezvous of Barman and Bolland. There’s a notch of “JJ Cale meets Kraftwerk” in the duo’s work. Magnus’ second album Where Neon Goes To Die is unexpected, futuristic and highly addictive. Magnus’ music is pure, crystalline and very direct; a synthesis of human heart and electronic soul, it is music created by a modernist man machine. The once-a-decade studio partnership of two of Belgium’s most endearing, forward-thinking musicians takes to the live stage for a series of shows. The duo are working as a five-piece band, amongst them Tim Vanhamel of Belgian band Millionaire and legendary Palm Desert rockers Eagles of Death Metal. Hearing that live set up tear through Where Neon Goes To Die – an album that’s wild-eyed with frenetic creativity and very much created in the studio – well, that’s where the fun really begins…