The Hickey Underworld was founded by childhood friends Younes Faltakh and Jonas Govaerts. They named themselves after a song by The Nation of Ulysses, one of theirfavorite bands on Dischord Records, the legendary indie label of Fugazi frontman Ian MacKaye.
That Dischord influence is clearly audible on their self-titled debut album, released in 2009 on the French label Naïve. The album, produced by Bent Van Looy, Niek Meul, andReinhard Vanbergen of Das Pop, also revealed the band’s more pop-oriented side — particularly in the breakout single “Future Words,” which received heavy airplay on Studio Brussel and Radio Willy.
From the beginning, the band paid great attention to their visual identity. The singles “Blonde Fire” and “Future Words” came with grotesque, surreal music videos — both shot by Nicolas Karakatsanis, the award-winning cinematographer behind Bullhead (Rundskop) and Cruella, and an early fan of The Hickey Underworld.
Three years later came their second album, I’m Under The House, I’m Dying (2012, PIAS), again produced by Das Pop and mixed by Dave Sardy, former frontman of Barkmarket— another hero of Faltakh and Govaerts. For the first time, Arabic sounds began to seep into their music, an element that Faltakh, who is half Tunisian, would explore further in his side project Arabnormal.
In 2015, the band released Ill on the same label, recorded by Niels Hendrix (Fence). The title proved somewhat prophetic: Jonas Govaerts developed a chronic hearing disorder and was temporarily replaced by Tim Van Hamel, the driving force behind Millionaire. Not long after the recordings, Faltakh decided to pull the plug on the group.
“The Hickey Underworld bled to death in the summer of 2016,” he said in Focus Knack.
Fast forward to 2023: during the lockdown, the itch returned. Faltakh, drummer Jimmy Wouters, and bassist Yorgos Tsakiridis found their way back to the rehearsal room. Original member Jonas Govaerts also rejoined. The band recorded two standalone singles in Millionaire drummer Damien Vanderhasselt’s studio — “Living On Big Foot” and“Wall On The Fly” — and reappeared on stage at several festivals that summer.
Not only was the desire back, but also the inspiration: soon after, The Hickey Underworld began recording their long-awaited fourth album. The sessions took place partly withVanderhasselt and partly in Sweden, where producer Niek Meul has a studio. The band chose Cold Sun as the title — also the opening track of the album.
The reborn Hickey Underworld found a new home with V2 Records, which will release several singles starting in November, followed by the full album in March. Also planned: a visual teaser created by Govaerts, and a music video directed by the American art collective Everything Is Terrible.
The album cover — a hypnotic painting of a white cat playing a recorder — was created by the Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska, who also provided artwork for Nick Cave’s book The Complete Lyrics 1978–2022. Notably, Waliszewska refused monetary payment and insisted on being compensated in paintbrushes instead.