New York-based noise artist Margaret Chardiet, aka Pharmakon, will be following up last year’s Abandon with a new album, Bestial Burden. Out on October 13 via Sacred Bones, it sees her reprising her collaboration with producer Sean Ragon, though the inspiration for the album is entirely new. Chardiet was set to fly to Europe for a run of gigs last year, but had to be rushed to hospital for major surgery, which resulted in her losing an organ. She says: "After seeing internal photographs taken during the surgery, I became hyperaware of the complex network of systems just beneath the skin, any of which were liable to fail or falter at any time. It all happened so fast and unexpectedly that my mind took a while to catch up to the reality of my recovery. I felt a widening divide between my physical and mental self. It was as though my body had betrayed me, acting as a separate entity from my consciousness. I thought of my corporeal body anthropomorphically, with a will or intent of its own, outside of my will’s control, and seeking to sabotage. I began to explore the idea of the conscious mind as a stranger inside an autonomous vessel, and the tension that exists between these two versions of the self."
Chardiet will be touring the resultant album in support of Swans, on their European tour starting at the AB Club in Brussels, Belgium on September 25 (the dates are on Sacred Bones’ website). Until then, take a look at the ace artwork above and the teaser trailer below:
