Andy Butler, the brains behind dance music project Hercules & Love Affair, recently announced the project’s first album in five years, In Amber (June 17, Skint/BMG). It marks a reunion between Butler and English-born singer ANOHNI, who sang on the band’s biggest hit “Blind” in 2008.
After co-producing In Amber’s lead single “Grace,” ANOHNI takes the lead on “Poisonous Storytelling.” Ominous, echoed drums set a thunderous backdrop for ANOHNI’s airy tenor-contralto. She calls out dangerous misinformation with a captivating urgency, propelled by atmospheric synths and the simplistic drum palette. Butler revisits dance music as a political space, and ANOHNI warns that “we must be careful with new narratives, because everyone is rotted out from poisonous storytelling”.
Butler also shines light on the song’s background, saying:
“Poisonous Storytelling” started as a song called “Sacral”—the music evoked sacred rites, but the word “Sacral” also speaks to the one of the sources of our rootedness and stability.
Listen to “Poisonous Storytelling” (which you can also stream on your preferred platform here) below and revisit Paste’s 2011 interview with Butler here.
