Last month we reviewed the single ‘Mushroom Cloud’ from Irish born Berlin based troubadour A.S. Fanning and he has followed this up with the epic grandeur of ‘Haunted’ – a slow burning fuse of dappling instruments carrying Fanning’s distinctive baritone vocals that are studied and enigmatic.
A gentle refrain with an ominous timbre, this is a majestic track filled with a sense of regret and melancholy – the future is lost, we’re out on the ledge – and yet brushed with a degree of optimism in the personal – I will never let you down again.
Fanning says of the dark themes of the track:
This song is partly about Hauntology. I was reading a lot of Mark Fisher at the time and he talks about the ‘slow cancellation of the future’ and that the present is haunted by cancelled futures. There’s also the idea that possible futures have been imagined so often in art but never quite materialised. I was also thinking of it in terms of climate change and the very real prospect of the future being cancelled in the sense of some sort of societal collapse. This is looming over us now in a way that makes the future very hard to picture or plan for, which can be a paralysing feeling.
The tone and delivery certainly has traces of The National and Bowie but is another example of Fanning’s statuesque presence, mixing a pop melody with a gothic cloak:
‘Haunted’ is available through all the usual download and streaming sites. The track comes with the announcement of A.S. Fanning’s new album ‘Mushroom Cloud’ due out 26 May through K&F Records/Proper Octopus Records. You can pre-order through the link below:
You can catch Fanning live at the following venues:
14th June – Servant Jazz Quarters – London – Tickets
15th June – The New Adelphi – Hull – Tickets
16th June – Heartbreakers – Southampton – Tickets
17th June – Bootleg Social – Blackpool – Tickets
18th June – Komedia – Bath – Tickets
19th June – Folklore Rooms – Brighton – Tickets
Feature Photograph: Neil Hoare
