Camouflage

In 1984 the German synth-pop trio Camouflage came together through vocalist Marcus Meyn and the keyboardists and programmers Heiko Maile and Oliver Kreyssig. A radio-sponsored song contest awarded them first place in 1986, after which their debut single, "The Great Commandment," quickly rose on the German charts. Released in 1988, their first full-length album, Voices and Images, captured classic new wave synth-pop influences with Depeche Mode standing out most clearly. The 1989 follow-up, Methods of Silence, started to widen Camouflage’s sonic range while the Depeche Mode aesthetic continued to dominate. Oliver Kreyssig’s subsequent departure left Maile and Meyn operating as a duo supported by various studio musicians. By 1991’s Meanwhile the band had built a meaningful college-radio audience; that album ventured still further from synth-pop and featured expanded live instrumentation. The rise of grunge, however, sharply reduced synth-pop’s presence on American college stations, and Camouflage soon lost its U.S. record contract. Issued only as an import, 1993’s Bodega Bohemia returned to synth-based textures and adopted a darker mood than most earlier material. The largely instrumental Spice Crackers appeared in 1995, leaving the band’s prospects uncertain until the German best-of collection We Stroke the Flames surfaced in 1997.