Lawrence English will release a new album via his Room40 label in February and above, you can check out the first single to be unveiled from the album in the form of ‘Object Of Protection’.
The track is a hazy drone-led slice of ambience that will no doubt please fans of English’s past work. The album is titled Cruel Optimism and is said to meditate "on how power consumes, augments and ultimately shapes two subsequent human conditions: obsession and fragility" with English experimenting with different recording techniques during its production.
The album owes its title to a text by American theorist Lauren Berlant. "In Cruel Optimism, I found a number of critical readings around the issues that have fuelled so much of the music I have been making recently… particularly her writing around trauma I found deeply affecting," says English. "It was a jumping point from which a plague of unsettling impressions of suffering, intolerance and ignorance could be unpacked and utilised as fuel over and above pointless frustration."
The album is out via Room40 on February 17.
