It’s been a while since The Church graced us with their ethereal presence, although main man Steve Kilbey has not been resting on his laurels by any means, having released a swathe of stunning material on his own and through collaborations with Martin Kennedy (All India Radio) and Glenn Bennie (Underground Lovers) over the last few years.
The band is back with ’The Hypnagogue’, title track to their forthcoming album on the eve of an Australia wide tour, and it is a welcome return. With a sparse and hypnotic sound, ’The Hypnagogue’ taps gently into The Church’s more esoteric side: a psychedelic slow burning track that builds momentum and adds sonic layers with a chemical fugue.
In his own inimitable manner, Kilbey, seer, preacher and troubador, recounts the story behind the track:
‘The Hypnogogue’ is set in 2054, a dystopian and broken down future. Invented by Sun Kim Jong, a North Korean scientist and occult dabbler, it is a machine and a process that pulls music straight of dreams.
Revolving around a protagonist, Kilbey goes on to say:
The song is about Eros Zeta the biggest rock star of 2054 who has traveled from his home in Antarctica (against his manager’s advice) to use the Hypnogogue to help him revive his flagging fortunes. In the midst of the toxic process, he also falls in love with Sun Kim and it all ends tragically (of course…as these thing often do).
Kilbey’s gift for story telling and poeticism is at the fore, the band behind him adept at creating a fitting sound track to the mystical journeys Kilbey embarks on.
The accompanying video is just as mesmerising and enigmatic: a rich cinematic feature that has a Blade Runner exotic feel full of enigma and mystery set in this future world.
Directed by Australian filmmaker Clint Lewis, the clip captures the track’s futuristic essence. Kilbey says,
I gave the director a lot of input into this video but he took my ideas and ran with them and came up with a fair bit of stuff I never envisaged. The Church appear on screens in the Hypnogogue as workers in the system, translating the dreams of users into real time music. I’m very happy with the way it all turned out. It’d be hard to get a better result!
The result is visually spectacular:
‘The Hypnogogue’ can be downloaded and streamed through here. The Church are putting the finishing touches on their long awaited 26th album set for release in early 2023.
In the meantime, they are setting off on their ’Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune’ tour of Australia – details below and tickets available here.
Thursday 1 September
Astor Theatre
Perth, WA
Friday 2 September
The River
Margaret River, WA
Sunday 4 September
The Gov
Adelaide, SA
Thursday 8 September
The Metro
Sydney, NSW
Friday 9 September – SOLD OUT
The Princess Theatre
Brisbane, QLD
Saturday 10 September
Northcote Theatre
Melbourne, VIC
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