Today, exactly one month before the release of “Cold Sun”, The Hickey Underworld’s fourth studio album, the band releases a remarkable album teaser. In the teaser, which looks like a proper horror short film, we see four fancy dining guests breaking open the skull of a cat like creature.
The mix of horror, surreal humor and gore has been a typical visual style element of the band since their origin in 2009. Making one coherent visual universe. For example the same actor, Niels Borrey, who was also in the video clip for “The Frog” (2012) was invited again as actor.
The idea behind the teaser shouldn’t be searched far. Jonas Govaerts, one of the band founder’s has besides gitarist of the band, has also been known as horror film director with movies like Welp en H4Z4RD. The teaser has been inspired on the horror film“Faces of Death (1978)”, which gave Jonas a small trauma after renting the movie as teenager. Making this movie is his way of processing this life long trauma.
Alongside the teaser, the band also shares the title track “Cold Sun”. They explain the following about the track: “Cold Sun moves in three rising cycles, like a malfunctioning arcade machine that keeps lighting up and going dark. It starts with a bang, falls into an open, airy quiet section, then surges into a euphoric, explosive climax. The loud-quiet-loud swing nods to Pixies, giving it a raw, tense edge. It’s tight, emotional, and built to hit hard and linger.”
For the cover of Cold Sun, The Hickey Underworld collaborated with Polish artist Aleksandra Waliszewska, who counts Nick Cave among her admirers. After listening to a few rough mixes — “It reminded me of the kind of music I used to listen to in my youth” — Waliszewska invited the band to select three of her surreal paintings. That, however, came with one condition: “I wouldn’t want to accept cash; instead, I would make a list of brushes, or possibly paints, that you could buy for me in exchange.”
The Hickey Underworld Live
- 27 March Live @ Trix, Antwerpen
- 2 April Live @ Cactus Club, Brugge
- 16 April Live @ Beurschouwburg, Brussel
- 08 May Live @ Rotown, Rotterdam