Norwegian gothic rock duo, Årabrot, have released their latest single, “You Cast Long Shadows”. It comes from their tenth full-length, Of Darkness and Light, due for release on October 13th, via Pelagic Records. Watch the video below, and read more from the band.
Pre-order/streaming link here:
Of the new single, Karin Park (vocals/keys) states: “Kjetil was asked to write a song for Sebastian Bach’s new album. We weren’t too schooled up on Sebastian Bach to be honest, but Kjetil thought it would be interesting to write a grungy Crowleyan occult murder ballad. He spent a few days in the studio and wrote two demos which were both immediately rejected by Sebastian Bach’s management. One of the demos was “You Cast Long Shadows.” It’s probably a better fit for Årabrot anyway!“
Operating out of Djura Missionshus, their home studio in the deconsecrated church in rural Sweden where they live with their two children, Årabrot is the iconic duo of vocalist/guitarist Kjetil Nernes and his wife, Karin Park.
With their new single, “You Cast Long Shadows”, Kjetil and Karin have crafted a warped murder ballad that embodies rock’n’roll swagger with a disturbing darkness bubbling just beneath the surface.
Of Darkness and Light Tracklisting:
01 Hangman’s House
02 You Cast Long Shadows
03 Horrors Of The Past
04 Madness
05 Cathedral Light
06 We Want Blood
07 Fire!
08 Skeletons Trip The Light Fantastic
09 Swan Killer
10 Love Under Will
Upcoming shows – more EU and UK shows later this year. TBA shortly.
August 11: Void Fest – Regensburg DE
August 16: Fekete Zaj Festival – Gyöngyös HU
November 15: Le Gueulard Plus – Nilvange FR
More about Årabrot:
With its origins going back 20 years now, Årabrot’s list of achievements is long: collaborating with fellow innovators Stephen O’Malley and Lustmord; working with such producers as Steve Albini and Billy Anderson; winning a Norwegian Grammy.
Having survived throat cancer almost a decade ago, Kjetil speaks of the high that follows the realisation of a second chance at life. Through all this, Årabrot’s sound has been in a perpetual state of flux. With the early material traversing the roughest edges of The Birthday Party and Swans, and with inspiration taken from esoteric sources – “fin-de-siècle decadence, surrealism and even a pinch of old German philosophy to boot,” in Nernes’ words – each release has seen more and more risks taken.
The band’s friend and collaborator Lustmord has written: “Born of the long dark winters of Norway, Årabrot was too black for metal and too avant-garde for punk, so it forged its own path… It is The Velvet Underground if Johnny Cash was a member and Nico was able to sing. It is Camus, Sartre, Poe and Burroughs, cut-up and regurgitated in an unholy erotic mass.”
The last two decades have seen Årabrot shapeshift through multiple iterations; they’ve tried on different shapes and sizes, encompassed different moods and explored the outer reaches of various genres and yet never sounded less than entirely themselves.
Of Darkness and Light bursts with infectious melodies and shines with the massive production of Alain Johannes, whose work on Mark Lanegan‘s 2020 album, Straight Songs of Sorrow, won over Nernes, and who, as a musician, has performed with the likes of PJ Harvey and Them Crooked Vultures. With Johannes at the helm, Of Darkness and Light was recorded entirely at Djura Missionshus, a.k.a. The Church of Årabrot – the first album to be recorded entirely in the church.
Fittingly, the album’s title references Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, a philosophical text centered on transcending our own limitations.
Last month, Årabrot released the first single, “We Want Blood” from the album. Watch the video for “We Want Blood” here.
Rest assured, as long as there is breath in their bodies, this pair will be found preaching rock and roll under the neon-lit Årabrot cross
Follow Årabrot:
https://m.facebook.com/ARABROT