The title track of Hercules & Love Affair’s forthcoming album “Omnion” is “an appeal to the divine for help and healing,” explains Hercules frontman Andy Butler. Featuring a sublime vocal from Sharon Van Etten, “Omnion” is indicative of the album – eleven songs that sparkle with faith and tolerance for our troubled times.
Directing the accompanying video out now – watch here – Crown & Owls have delivered a simple yet striking interpretation, drawing timely parallels with The Handmaid’s Tale in both its color palette and aesthetic. The video premiered via Dazed, where it was lauded for the use of “perspective play, scale and negative space… to reflect the complexity of identity in the abstract visual.”
James Adair from Crowns & Owls says: “The ‘Omnion’ video is an exploration of the nuances of gender and sexuality. A story of rebirth, the video follows a lone figure in red ascending a seemingly infinite staircase. Perspective play, scale and negative space is used to reflect the complexity of identity. It was a pleasure to work so closely with Andy and draw on his love of the theatrical set design of Robert Wilson and combine it with our interest in minimalism and surrealism.”
Andy Butler also comments: “Crowns and Owls have created a rich cinematic video for ‘Omnion’ a song really dear to my heart. It has such splendor due to intense set builds and carefully considered casting and styling by the amazing Anna Pesonin. The timeless story of a spirit reborn is told in an original and nuanced way, with an opaqueness and mystery that’s in contrast to the heavy handedness by which so much of pop culture is often relayed.” Check out the Joe Goddard Remix of “Omnion” below
“Omnion” is the second single from the eponymous forthcoming album, set to be released on September 1st via Big Beat Records. Butler and regular collaborators Rouge Mary and Gustaph are joined by a world class cast of singers including The Horrors’ Faris Badwan, the Arab World’s most influential indie band Mashrou’ Leila, Sharon Van Etten, and Icelandic sister act Sísý Ey. Having had “a massive, massive relationship with drugs and clubs” since his youth, culminating in “a brutal drug addiction that saw me overdosed in hospital every weekend,” ButIer has been clean for four years and Omnion is rich with his re-immersion in the wider world, in all its ugliness and beauty.
Stream /Download “Omnion” & Omnion LP
https://bigbeat.lnk.to/omnionPR
Following festival appearances this summer, Hercules & Love Affair bring their visually spectacular stage show – “A Feast for the Eyes” Creative Review – to venues across Europe this fall. Tickets are available beginning Friday, July 21st here.
Summer shows:
JULY:
18th – Firenze Summer Festival, Florence [supporting Arcade Fire]
21st – TimeShift Festival, Romania
22nd – Tramlines Festival, Sheffield (UK) [Andy Butler DJ set]
AUGUST:
11th – Houghton Festival, Kings Lynn (UK)
13th – Boomtown Festival, Winchester [UK] (Andy Butler DJ set)
25th – Rock en Seine, Paris (France)
27th – Stephenson Works, Newcastle (UK)
SEPTEMBER:
1st – Into the Great Wide Open, Vlieland (Netherlands)
9th – Festival No. 6, Portmeirion (Wales)
16th – Kutxa Kultur Festival, San Sebastian (Spain)
OCTOBER:
19th – ADE at Paradiso, Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Omnion European Tour:
NOVEMBER:
10th – Metropop Festival, Lausanne, Switzerland
15th – Sala But, MADRID, Spain
16th – Sala Apolo, Barcelona, Spain
17th – Lux Fragil, Lisbon, Portugal
25th – Smolna, Warsaw, Poland
30th – Kesslehaus, Berlin, Germany
DECEMBER:
1st – Trix, Antwerp, Belgium
6th – Santeria, Milan, Italy
7th – Locomotiv, Bologna, Italy
8th – Shepherds Bush Empire, London
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