SHEFFIELD’S deep proto-industrialists Cabaret Voltaire still have so much to say, some 48 years on from first beginnings.
Shadow Of Fear, released November gone, was the Cabs’ first new album in more than two decades; but in a world this darkly dystopian, how can the time not be absolutely ripe for Richard H Kirk and the shadowy soundworld he’s prophesied?
Today, Cabaret Voltaire have announced a three-track addendum to that album: an EP, Shadow Of Funk; and also two accompanying album releases, thus completing a series.
Gather around our brazier, stave off those ill winds, come hear “Billion Dollar”, which is proffered today from Shadow Of Funk, which will be out on February 26th digitally and on limited coloured vinyl.
This triad of new tracks is very much eyeing up a particularly shadowy dancefloor, maybe behind boarded up doors canalside, as you can hear; “Billion Dollar” is well acid, in fact. Abrasively, deliciously so.
It reflects the album’s genesis in live performance; the Cabs have been performing live selectively since the Berlin Atonal festival in 2014, and elements of the 12” will be familiar to attendees of recent shows.
And there’s more: Shadow Of Fear and the Shadow Of Funk EP are interconnected and form half of a series of four releases that continues into the spring with the release of a brace of drone works.
The first of these, a 50-minute piece entitled Dekadrone, is due out on March 26th; the second, the 64-minute BN9Drone, follows on April 23rd. Both will be available on CD and limited double vinyl.
Hair-raisingly enticing, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Cabaret Voltaire’s latest album, Shadow Of Fear, is available now digitally and on cassette, CD and limited purple vinyl – you can order and listen to that here; you can pre-order the full forthcoming series here.
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