Empathy Test celebrated its 10th year with the "Ten Year Anniversary Tour", which included dates in Czech Republic, Scandinavia, Germany and the UK, and featured a sold out show in Leipzig, Germany, at the 450 capacity Werk II. The main German leg of the tour in March, included two supports in the form of UK band and new Pluswelt signing Auger and the Czech band Lakeside X. The UK leg, in April, featured Hungarian band Black Nail Cabaret.

 

Meanwhile, Empathy Test's singer/songwriter Isaac Howlett began a solo career under his own name, collaborating with US producer Walter Kazmier, who he had met at Dark Force Festival in April of the previous year, on a debut single entitled House of Cards, which he self-released via Distrokid on 28th February. The song, featuring a groove-led bass line and up-tempo beat, drew comparisons to A-ha and The Pet Shop Boys and proved very successful, reaching #2 on the Bandcamp synth-pop chart and #1 on the Deutsche Alternative Chart (DAC), where it stayed for eight weeks, only falling as low as #17.

 

Isaac's debut solo single chalked up over 20,000 Spotify streams in its first month and The Norwich Radical noted that "fans of [Empathy Test]’s signature synth-pop sound have much to enjoy here", the track marrying "recognisably sensitive lyrics with light, upbeat instrumentals". To help fund the production and release of House of Cards and the follow-up single, Endless Night (release date TBC), Isaac set up a Patreon, where he promised fans a deeper insight into his creative process, in return for their financial support.

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Empathy Test has five festival appearances planned for the rest of 2024: on 11th May they appear for the first time at DarkMad in Spain, on 15th June they'll be guests of DE/VISION on the island of Hallig Langeness in Germany. On 5th July, they return to Eastside Open Air Festival, also in Germany, and on 15th August they perform for the first time at Fekete Zaj in Hungary. On 9th November they have an as yet unannounced event in Czech Republic, before a return to Plage Noire in Germany, where they'll perform on the main stage for the first time.

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