Algiers – Black Eunuch
Algiers – Black Eunuch (2015)
Directed by: Lamb & Sea
Algiers’ self-titled debut album is out now on Matador Records. Steeped in radical politics and deeply indebted to post-punk’s sonic trailblazing and gospel’s spiritual bloodletting, the album imbues neo-modernist hymns with caustic social sentiment and explosive noise.
Algiers comprises singer/guitarist Franklin James Fisher (deemed “one of the most powerfully guttural vocalists in rock today” by SPIN), guitarist Lee Tesche, and bassist Ryan Mahan. From the militant stomp of ‘Remains’ to Fisher’s commanding presence on the gospel no wave blowout ‘Black Eunuch,’ Algiers channels righteous fury into an incisive, innovative assault that Noisey calls “intense…right on the beat of the current cultural climate.”
A trio of émigrés of the American Deep South, now split between New York and London, Algiers synthesizes its eclectic influences, from Nina Simone and PJ Harvey to Suicide and Public Enemy, into frightening new forms or cathartic protest gospel.
Speaking to The Guardian about the idea of collective catharsis in music the band say, “For a brief moment it provides a catharsis: that sense of throwing off the world. In doing so, we see that there are other people like us, that we’re not abnormal. And that’s quite powerful.”
Algiers are set to play London’s Ace Hotel on 2 June. Their self-titled debut LP is available now from Matador Records.
