Wish you were there?

With all its gloomy days malingering like a post-festive hangover, it's little wonder that January is a month in which many people's thoughts turn to booking summer holidays. If you're dreaming of golden expanses of unpopulated sand gently lapped at by the Mediterranean, then why not consider Varosha in Cyprus as a possible destination (other than the fact it's deserted and you'll probably get shot at)? Or maybe Prora instead, the world's largest hotel, six storeys high and stretching for three miles along the coast of the Baltic island Rugen (other than the fact it is largely empty, the great white elephant of the Nazi regime)?

Both Varosha and Prora would be excellent settings for Efterklang to record the follow-up to Piramida, much of which was captured in an abandoned town of the same name in the Arctic Circle. Or at least they would be if Efterklang were going to even record a follow-up, something that is rendered doubtful by the band's curious recent declaration of the demise of their current form: "It is time to reflect and time to move forward. We want to fundamentally change what it means to be Efterklang and how we operate, create and perform." No one can be sure of what the future holds, the band included it seems, but the past - and especially the brilliant Magic Chairs - can't be taken away from them.