Xeno & Oaklander

Formed in Brooklyn in 2004, Xeno & Oaklander brings together Sean McBride and Liz Wendelbo around a synth-driven approach that crosses minimal wave, cold wave, darkwave, and synth-pop. The duo emerges in the wake of the New York scene linked to Wierd Records, with a stripped-down, mechanical and melodic sound, where keyboard lines, dry rhythms, and cold vocals build an aesthetic directly connected to European electronic post-punk of the 1970s and 1980s. After Vigils in 2006, Xeno & Oaklander refines this language on Sentinelle in 2009 and Sets & Lights in 2011, before widening its palette on Par Avion in 2014 and Topiary in 2016, without abandoning the tension between austerity, discreet romance, and a sense of pop. The band's journey also includes commissions and parallel formats, with Movements in 2015 and Movements II in 2017. Later based in Connecticut during the pandemic, Xeno & Oaklander continues its evolution with Hypnos in 2019, where Liz Wendelbo handles the vocal parts alone, then Vi/deo in 2021. Between clubs, festivals and venues dedicated to independent electronic music, Xeno & Oaklander remains in a continuum where the cold wave heritage is reformulated with clarity, sobriety, and a pronounced taste for short structures and nocturnal atmospheres.