Unsung Britpop hero Luke Haines is back with another solo record.
British Nuclear Bunkers, due out October 16 on Cherry Red, sees Haines tapping into the public’s innate fear of nuclear war via the use of vintage synthesizers. It’s a departure from Haines’ previous work with the Auteurs, Baader Meinhof, and Black Box Recorder, and the title track, along with intro clip “This Is The BBC,” surfaced today for our listening pleasure.
Armed with the promise and intrigue of “maximum electronic rock ‘n’ roll,” the only organic sound on the album, apart from what’s billed as “an occasional vocal,” is a recording of Camden Borough Control Bunker being attacked late at night by Haines himself. British Nuclear Bunkers is led by a title track that’s both minimalist and chaotic, with eerie synths mimicking the sound of air raid sirens. When the world meets its inevitable end, Haines will surely provide the soundtrack. Or at least narrate it as a bedtime story for the cockroaches.
Here’s more on the record, via Cherry Red:
Beneath the surface of the UK lies a vast and secret network of abandoned nuclear bunkers. Sometime in the future the population of Great Britain has retreated into these bunkers. The reason for this exodus is not clear. Nuclear attack? Chemical attack? Germ warfare? Or perhaps even free will. What is known is that beneath the surface, in the bunkers, people live the utopian dream, communicating wordlessly via a highly developed new subconsciousness. There is no need for money and food is plentiful. The old gods have been forgotten. People now offer prayer to a piece of silverware, referred to as the ‘New Pagan Sun’, found in a bunker at Stoke on Trent, near to the location of the 1980 Darts World Championship final between Eric Bristow and Bobby George.
British Nuclear Bunkers will be available on CD, vinyl, and digitally, to fit all your end-of-world formats. Preview two tracks below…