For anyone drawn to post-apocalyptic dystopian cinema and/or literature, the imagery in Algiers‘ “Irony. Utility. Pretext.” comes as a familiar foreboding—images of rotting ruins long past former glory, remaining as grave reminders that nothing gold can stay, intercut with nihilistic, political messages inciting revolution. The raw, industrial-electronic clanging, too, evokes the best of of the bleak, from Vangelis to Joy Division.
Franklin James Fisher’s passionate, prophetic delivery is compounded by the insurrectionary messages—”Art Is Dead,” “The Most Painful State of Being Is Remembering the Future Particularly The One You’ll Never Have,” “A Nation Regenerates Itself Only Upon Heaps Of Corpses”—as he sermonizes through the decrepit remains of a city.
Watch the video for “Irony. Utility. Pretext.” below (which premiered via Self-Titled), as well as upcoming tour dates with Interpol.
Algiers is out June 2 via Matador.
Algiers tour dates
May
07 – Richmond, VA – The National*
08 – Raleigh, NC – The Ritz*
11 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant*
12 – Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room at Old National Centre*
13 – Detroit, MI – The Fillmore*
15 – Cincinnati, OH – Bogarts*
16 – Pittsburgh, PA – Stage AE*
* = w/Interpol
