New York–based avant-electro / art-pop project Energy Whores has released their new album ‘Arsenal of Democracy’, with the album’s title track leading the campaign as its central statement. Urgent, tense, and politically charged, the record confronts democratic erosion, manufactured fear, and public disengagement in an era defined by instability and distraction.
Led by Carrie Schoenfeld (vocals, keyboards) in collaboration with guitarist Attilio Valenti, Energy Whores operates at the intersection of electronic music, art rock, protest folk, and synth-driven pop. The project rejects irony and nostalgia, instead delivering confrontational songwriting that examines how power is sustained through apathy, spectacle, and engineered consent. The lead track, ‘Arsenal of Democracy’, sets the album’s tone with restrained defiance and political gravity, framing democracy not as an abstract ideal but as something fragile, participatory, and at constant risk.
Created in a DIY basement studio in New York City, ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ moves fluidly between driving, rhythm-forward compositions and more hypnotic, melodic passages. Tracks such as ‘Hey Hey Hate’ and ‘Pretty Sparkly Things’ dissect consumerism and weaponised outrage, while ‘Mach9ne’ and ‘Bunker Man’ explore technological dominance, isolation, and elite survivalism with sharp satire and tension. The album closes with ‘Two Minutes to Midnight’, a stark meditation on collective responsibility and the narrowing distance between authoritarian posturing and irreversible consequence.
Energy Whores has previously received coverage across a range of independent and alternative music outlets – namely CLASH, Earmilk, FAME Magazine, FLEX, and TAGG – with press highlighting the project’s confrontational lyricism, genre-blurring production, and uncompromising political stance. Critics and tastemakers have drawn attention to Carrie Schoenfeld’s background in film and theatre, noting how the project’s multidisciplinary approach elevates its impact beyond music alone. The project has also found support from underground electronic, art-rock, and protest-leaning platforms that champion boundary-pushing work operating outside of mainstream narratives.
Speaking on the lead track, Schoenfeld explains:
“‘Arsenal of Democracy’ is about how democracy erodes when people disengage, and how it survives through attention, truth, and participation. It’s a reminder that change starts by taking responsibility for our actions rather than just blaming and complaining.”
The album draws comparisons to Talking Heads, Radiohead, Massive Attack, St. Vincent, and Rage Against The Machine, blending synths, electric guitars, electronic drums, programmed bass, and vocals into a sound that is both confrontational and immersive. The campaign is supported by an official music video for the lead track, continuing Energy Whores’ commitment to visual storytelling.
Schoenfeld, a classically trained pianist as well as an independent filmmaker and off-Broadway producer, brings a multidisciplinary approach to Energy Whores. All visual art, video, and design elements are created in-house, extending the project beyond music into a fully realised artistic statement. Energy Whores does not position itself as genre-safe or retro; instead, it occupies a space where danceable electronic frameworks collide with uncomfortable truths.
‘Arsenal of Democracy’ is out now on all major platforms. This is not an escape record — it is a confrontation, and a call to awareness in a time when indifference has consequences.
Artist Statement — Carrie Schoenfeld / Energy Whores
“I am a sonic insurgent. A lyrical arsonist. I make music to expose what others try to bury, injustice, greed, hypocrisy, and the emotional fallout of a broken world. My project, Energy Whores, is where electronic beats meet art rock, folk, and raw protest, a genre I call avant electro. Every track is a mirror held to society’s face, sometimes cracked, sometimes bloodied, always unfiltered.
I don’t write love songs. I write warning signs.
My lyrics dissect the sickness of power, the isolation of modern life, and the emotional warzones we carry inside. I’m here to say what others are too afraid to say — and I’ll set it to a beat you can’t ignore. Music is my rebellion and my redemption. It’s not just entertainment — it’s a weapon and a witness.
I create for the misfits, the furious, the disillusioned , and the ones still standing after the world tried to erase them.”
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