The follow-up to 2016's Hidden City, was produced by Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Ghost, Royal Blood) which will be out on October 7 via Black Hill. Pre-order your copy here.
As the world shut down and everyone was forced to reprioritize the way they approached life and work. "When the world stopped, I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate," says Astbury. When lockdown lifted and the group could meet to record, they teamed up with Dalgety. "I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun. Tom helped us bring a new musical shape and frequency to our process."
Lyrically, Under the Midnight Sun bolsters that new musical dexterity by building out from the idyllic and surreal vision at its title. Throughout, Astbury pulls in influences from Brian Jones, Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Buddhism, the Beats, and the Age of Aquarius, all shaded with the lingering threat of the present and the timeless Cult color palette.
The band have also shared a video for the album’s lead single, “Give Me Mercy, ” speaking about it, band member Ian Astbury says: “I was absolutely enamored with this piece of music Billy [Duffy] had written, and it perfectly fit these thoughts I’d been having about our culture’s need to move past assumptions of duality. We need new language because words can’t express where we’re going. ‘Give Me Mercy’ has all the hallmarks of the new classic Cult to my ears…fresh yet familiar.”
Check out the album's tracklist and watch the video for “Give Me Mercy, ” below.
01. Mirror
02. A Cut Inside
03. Vendetta X
04. Give Me Mercy
05. Outer Heaven
06. Knife Through Butterfly Heart
07. Impermanence
08. Under The Midnight Sun
Tags: The Cult