Strange Complex

From Lost Waves Wiki

ⓘ This lostwave is classified as solved.

Strange Complex
Alternative name(s) Cheer, Complex
Artist(s) Het
Genre Industrial
Length 3:26
Year 1988
Original poster нет войне!
Search duration 2015 - 2024
File:StrangeComplex.mp3

Strange Complex (previously known as "Cheer" or “Complex”) is a solved lostwave by the Swiss band Het, that was discovered on an old cassette tape of a compilation of songs.

Background[edit | edit source]

On September 2nd, 2015, YouTube user нeт войнe! posted a video titled "Unknown Postpunk & Wave from Switzerland 1" containing snippets recorded off of a cassette tape from the radio in Switzerland. In the video, the OP states "As far as I remember, this one is called complex and had both a male & female singer".[1]

On May 31st, 2020, a new video called "Unknown Postpunk & Wave from Switzerland" was uploaded by нeт войнe!. This version included all of the lost songs from his older videos, which were uploaded in 2015, as well as some previously unseen clips from his tapes.[2] The new video included a snippet of vocals before the "Complex" snippet, which some searchers mistook as saying "Cheer," but it was revealed to be a leftover from The Indian Feast's song "Loneliest Person," and the vocal actually said "Yes."[3] "Loneliest Person" preceded "Complex" in the original video and was copied over to the new video as нeт вoйнe! lost the original files and tape.[4][5]

On May 12th, 2022, нeт вoйнe! created a blog post explaining how he used to record his snippets from Radio DRS (DRS3), a German-language radio station in Switzerland.[6]

On March 27th, 2024, нeт вoйнe! posted a complete recreation of the song based on his memory and released the instrumental four days later.[7][8] This inspired an instrumental remake by user Moody Riffs in GarageBand on April 5th, 2024.[9]

Discovery[edit | edit source]

On August 14th, 2024, Discord user Trabial discovered a listing for a song named Complex by a Swiss band called Het on the website of the Swiss National Sound Archives.[10][11] The band shares a similar musical style to the song and recorded in the same studio as Micro Kids, the band that the OP originally believed to have created the song.[12] On August 15th, 2024, the OP claimed that he skipped work to listen to the recording at a library and confirmed that it is the same song,[13] but he is unable to upload it because he is not allowed to create a copy of the original recording.[14]

On August 16th, 2024, the band responded to a moderator of the Fond My Mind Discord, giving him the entire song and the permission to share it.[15] After that, they gave the community the full song, which was confirmed to be Strange Complex by Het.[16]

Lyrics[edit | edit source]

Former Leads[edit | edit source]

Debunked[edit | edit source]

  • Micro Kids: OP thought the song was created by them.[17] Their vocalist Raffaella Felder confirmed that they did not create the song, but suggested that it was made in Zurich.[18]
  • The Indian Feast: Band that preceded "Complex" on нeт войнe!'s tape[19]
  • Wallagh: Dutch band with a similar sound to the snippet[20]

References[edit | edit source]