Cabaret Voltaire’s first album in over two decades is on its way.
Titled Shadow Of Fear, it’s the first full-length Cabaret Voltaire record produced with Richard H Kirk as the sole member of the project. The genesis of the new album is said to have come from the 2014 edition of Berlin Atonal when Kirk first played live solo as Cabaret Voltaire. You can listen to ‘Vasto’, the first track to be shared from the album, above.
"The album was finished just as all the weirdness was starting to kick in," Kirk says, referring to the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown. "Shadow Of Fear feels like a strangely appropriate title. The current situation didn’t have much of an influence on what I was doing – all the vocal content was already in place before the panic set in – but maybe due to my nature of being a bit paranoid there are hints in there about stuff going a bit weird and capturing the current state of affairs."
He continues: "I started developing tracks specifically for live performance. Stuff that was quite stripped back and crude. Every time I would visit a new place to perform, I would write something fresh."
The album was recorded at the latest location of Western Works, the studio used throughout Cabaret Voltaire’s history, where Kirk initially toyed with upgrading his old set-up to digital to work on the album. After a computer failure he decided to retain his original equipment.
"Making this album reminded me a bit of the old days with Cabaret Voltaire because there wasn’t that much equipment, so you really had to use your imagination," he says.
Mute will release Shadow Of Fear on November 20, 2020.
