HERE’S a cocktail recipe for a fine and refreshing musical draught.
Take Louisa Roach, better known for her political-mod pop alter-ego She Drew The Gun, which she retired on the back of a final tour last year. Now mix her voice well through megaphone effects, and trickle in the squelchy electronic nous of a Super Furry Animal in the shape of Cian Ciaran.
Make sure Louisa is declamatory and angered at the contemporary political situation; at this point, your cocktail should foam pleasingly.
Perhaps now just garnish with a little electro hiphop break to deepen the flavour, as if Delia Derbyshire had spent time crate-diggin’ in the five boroughs. Consume with relish.
So we imbibe the new single from Cian, “Keep the Darkness Out”, which you can hear below. It serves notice of an incoming album from 20% of SFA under the name Hero Leader God, pencilled in to be set loose on the world this winter.
For this project Cian has gathered together a host of collaborators, including Birmingham poet Stephen Morrison-Burke and Beta Band man Steve Mason.
Cian says of his latest project: “Nothing ever seems to change, and that’s the problem. Pulling together the collaborations for Hero Leader God, not least the brilliant lines from Louisa for ‘Keep The Darkness Out’, is one way of expressing the frustrations some of us feel with the power that hangs over us.
“That power is, to some degree, a delusion, but a falsehood that will only be exposed by people realising their individual sense of power. If music changes one person’s mind from resignation to hope, then it’s worth it.”
Louisa added: “It isn’t hard to find the words to express disappointment and anger sometimes, but it can be a challenge to express the other side of the coin: that we’re still free to read, write and sing to a world that ‘they’ will never really understand. It’s for us, not them. Perhaps that’s what scares them the most; it’s worth holding on to that thought.”
More music from Hero Leader God is scheduled to appear on a monthly basis leading up to the album.
