Camilla Sparksss (Barbara Lehnhoff), a Swiss-Canadian musician and visual artist, blends electronic music with the raw energy of punk. As a founding member of the post-punk band Peter Kernel, the artist has a sound that roams between experimental electronic, dark wave, and noise pop—hard to classify but impossible not to feel.
Her latest album released in 2025, “ICU RUN,” is the artist’s most personal and intense work to date. The album’s title comes from Lehnhoff’s father’s long stay in intensive care (ICU) and the emotional desire to escape (RUN) during that process. Yet this is not a mourning album; Sparksss transforms the experience into an explosion of energy that embraces the tragicomic reality and absurdity within pain.
The album deconstructs 80s synth sounds, rebuilding them with heavy bass and lo-fi samples. In tracks like “Damage” and “Stranger,” mechanical rhythms pulse like heartbeats, while Camilla’s vocals swing from whispers to screams, from spoken-word to melodic pleas.
“ICU RUN” feels like dancing under the cold neon lights of a hospital corridor: unsettling, hypnotic, and strangely invigorating. Walking that thin line between pain and joy, noise and silence, this album proves how music can become a survival mechanism even in life’s toughest moments.
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On stage, Camilla Sparksss turns synthesizers and visuals into weapons, physically shaking the audience as a performance artist. The album completely breaks away from the fairytale atmosphere of her previous work “Lullabies,” stepping onto much harder, industrial, and realistic ground. If you love the chaos of Crystal Castles or the attitude of Peaches, this album could become your new obsession. Discover Camilla Sparksss on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/camillasparksss/
