Set for release on 20 November via Mute, the follow-up to 1994’s The Conversation, is unmistakably Cabaret Voltaire with it’s mix of house, dub, techno and German electronic music of the 1970s weaving through the grooves. Pre-order your copy here.
Richard H. Kirk is the sole remaining member, with Stephen Mallinder having left after their last album. There is a potent mix of sounds to be found on this record. The shadowy atmospheres, dubbed-out textures and generally ominous air which hangs over some of these tracks puts Shadow Of Fear in dialogue with acts who have emerged in Cabaret Voltaire's wake. The record’s driving techno numbers do something similar, forging a link between Kirk’s Roxy Music era Eno influenced experiments in early Cabaret Voltaire, bleep-techno innovations in Sweet Exorcist and post-EBM outfits like Silent Servant and Phase Fatale whilst remaining an alluring fly in the ointment of modern musical innovation. Some tunes also push on into the most vibrant, boundary-pushing end of industrialism - closer ‘What’s Goin’ On’ blends a brassy sample with distorted beats and Kirk’s grinding vocals to land somewhere between This Heat, Andrew Weatherall and Nurse With Wound.
“The album was finished just as all the weirdness was starting to kick in,” Kirk says. “Shadow Of Fear feels like a strangely appropriate title. The current situation didn’t have much of an influence on what I was doing – all the vocal content was already in place before the panic set in – but maybe due to my nature of being a bit paranoid there are hints in there about stuff going a bit weird and capturing the current state of affairs.” Although, as with a lot of Kirk’s work, concrete meaning and narrative is ripe for interpretation rather than being spelled out. “Surrealism has always been really important to Cabaret Voltaire,” says Kirk. “And that’s still present too.”
“The album was finished just as all the weirdness was starting to kick in,” Kirk says. “Shadow Of Fear feels like a strangely appropriate title. The current situation didn’t have much of an influence on what I was doing – all the vocal content was already in place before the panic set in – but maybe due to my nature of being a bit paranoid there are hints in there about stuff going a bit weird and capturing the current state of affairs.” Although, as with a lot of Kirk’s work, concrete meaning and narrative is ripe for interpretation rather than being spelled out. “Surrealism has always been really important to Cabaret Voltaire,” says Kirk. “And that’s still present too.”
Check out the album's tracklist and listen to the new single "Vasto", below.
Shadow of Fear Tracklist:
01. Be Free
02. The Power (Of Their Knowledge)
03. Night Of The Jackal
04. Microscopic Flesh Fragment
05. Papa Nine Zero Delta United
06. Universal Energy
07. Vasto
08. What’s Goin’ On
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Tags: Cabaret Voltaire
