The Act

Following the breakup of Propaganda’s founding members, German vocalist Claudia Brücken (b. 7 December 1963, Berchenz, Germany) partnered with electronics composer and vocalist Thomas Leer to launch Act. The pair remained on Trevor Horn’s ZTT Records label, where their opening single ‘Snobbery & Decay’ displayed further studio experimentation and prompted an appearance on the BBC Television science programme Tomorrow’s World to address emerging music technology. ‘Absolutely Immune’ arrived the following September, accompanied by its remix ‘Absolutely Immune II’. In March 1988 Act released ‘I Can’t Escape From You’, whose B-side contained a strange reinterpretation of the Smiths’ ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’, before issuing their sole album Laughter, Tears And Rage in June. Like the earlier singles, the record fused elaborate studio techniques with meticulously shaped songs. Brücken later cut the solo album Love: And A Million Other Things.