Following on from the beautifully meditative swoon of first single “Grace”, Hercules & Love Affair and ANOHNI now return with the furious maelstrom of “Poisonous Storytelling”, the next track taken from the forthcoming album In Amber, set for release this summer on Skint/BMG.
It also sees the powerful return of ANOHNI to the Hercules fold, 15 years on. The results are as urgent and potent as ever, as she calls out the insidious misinformation that’s now caught the world in its vice-like grip, and does its very best to divide rather than unite.
In Andy Butler’s words: Poisonous Storytelling started as a song called “Sacral” – The music evoked sacred rites, but the word “Sacral” also speaks to one of the sources of our rootedness and stability.
ANOHNI’s lyrics outline a constellation of systemic brokenness within global society. Addressing cultural narrators, newscasters, film makers and prophets, ANOHNI states, “We must be careful with new narratives, because everyone is rotted out from poisonous storytelling”.
The track also arrives with thrilling remixes from industrial occultist Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh) and the confrontational intensity of techno duo Giant Swan. Broadrick’s interpretation is hauntingly metallic, a mutation of distorted guitars and ghostly vocals twist the original track into a grinding and industrious ensemble. Giant Swan chops and reworks the track into a club-centric, floor-shaking rhythm workout filled with brooding SFX and unrelenting drum work.
“Poisonous Storytelling” is just the latest missive from the highly anticipated In Amber, Hercules &Love Affair’s first album in five years and Butler’s powerful instinctive response to putting emotion and rage back into dance music. The end result is something visceral yet organic, deeply emotive and infectious -the troubled ghost trapped inside the whirring, shiny machine, and it is out on June 17th on Skint/BMG.
Artist: Hercules & Love Affair and ANOHNI
Remixers: Justin K Broadrick (Godflesh), Giant Swan
Single: Poisonous Storytelling
Album: In Amber
Label: Skint/BMG
Format: Digital (single), Album (Digital & Vinyl)
Date: 6th April (single), June 17th (album)
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TRACKLIST
1. Grace
2. One Great Cry
3. You’ve Won This War
4. Christian Prayers
5. Dissociation
6. Contempt For You
7. Gates of Separation
8. Killing My Family
9. Who Will Save Us Now
10. Eyes of the Father
11. Poisonous Storytelling
12. Repent
Single tracklist
1. Poisonous Storytelling
2. Poisonous Storytelling (Justin K Broadrick Remix)
3. Poisonous Storytelling (Giant Swan Remix)