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The Cult at The Roxy on October 7th, credit: Joshua Kim
Under the Midnight Sun was produced by Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Ghost, Royal Blood). The band have shared two singles from the LP – the recent ‘A Cut Inside’ and the debut single ‘Give Me Mercy.’
“British rock grandees deliver late career gem” Classic Rock
“Dark and brooding… glorious” Daily Telegraph
“Ian Astbury remains a feisty, fiery frontman… He can still wail too.” Brooklyn Vegan
“It sounds mighty impressive” Rock Candy
“The definition of musical genius” Powerplay
“A welcome return to form from this legendary band” Fireworks
“Under the Midnight Sun… has all of the hallmarks of a Cult gem…” LA Weekly
“‘Give Me Mercy’ feels classically Cult, as the band envelope their gothic rock influences with a modern sheen.” Consequence
“‘Give Me Mercy’ sounds like a classic Cult song thanks to Astbury’s commanding vocals and guitarist Billy Duffy’s melodic riffs…though sonically it feels like a throwback, the lyrical content speaks to today’s social climate.” LA Daily News
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When the sun just wouldn’t leave the sky one evening in Finland, Ian Astbury took notice. Walking the grounds of the Provinssirock festival, Astbury found himself reveling in the surreal, almost occult moment that comes with the “midnight sun,” the summer stretch where the sun doesn’t go down north of the Arctic Circle. “It’s three in the morning, the sun’s up, and there’s all these beautiful people in this halcyon moment,” Astbury remembers. “People are laying on the grass, making out, drinking, smoking. There were rows of flowers at the front of the stage from the performances earlier that evening. It was an incredible moment.” While reviewing archival footage of the performance, Astbury found new mysticism in that moment and imbued it into the forthcoming Under the Midnight Sun.
Leading to 2020, The Cult had been on a rolling cycle of releasing albums, touring, and recording. As the world shut down and everyone was forced to reprioritize the way they approached life and work. “When the world stopped, I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate,” says Astbury. When lockdown lifted and the group could meet to record, they teamed up with Dalgety. “I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun. Tom helped us bring a new musical shape and frequency to our process.”
Lyrically, Under the Midnight Sun bolsters that new musical dexterity by building out from the idyllic and surreal vision at its title. Throughout, Astbury pulls in influences from Brian Jones, Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Buddhism, the Beats, and the Age of Aquarius, all shaded with the lingering threat of the present and the timeless Cult colour palette.
As The Cult are now returning to performing live and sharing Under the Midnight Sun, Astbury hopes that the record connects to something deep within and subconscious in their listeners—something Astbury found within himself when given the moment to look for it. “At the core of it all, music contains the vibrational frequency of how we once communicated before we could even speak,” he says. “Bird songs, animal calls, string theory, quantum physics, psychedelics. The record ultimately is about finding and uniting beauty in those strangely natural moments.”
Under The Midnight Sun track list:
- Mirror
- A Cut Inside
- Vendetta X
- Give Me Mercy
- Outer Heaven
- Knife Through Butterfly Heart
- Impermanence
- Under The Midnight Sun
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