Semi Detached – Deluxe 2 CD Edition
Blancmange

This deluxe edition comes with a second CD of exclusive and extended mixes. A limited number will be signed by Blancmange.

Blancmange bring their bitter-sweet electronic songs to Cherry Red
Records with their new album, Semi Detached which will be available on
four formats – CD, Ltd Edition Deluxe Double CD, Vinyl LP and digital
download. Due out on 23 March 2015, the tracks are shot through with
lyrics inspired by Neil Arthur’s instinct for surreal juxtapositions and
abstract wordplay.

The eight minute opener ’The Fall’ sets the
tone with its imaginative mix of the London tube map, The Fall (the
band), Heaven and Hell, suicide, ghostly (inner) reflection and
rain-soaked romantic imagery. The synthesizer melody is lightly done but
the narrative is one of broken

hearts, tragedy. . . . and The
Fall: ‘I went to see them many times,’ says Arthur. ‘I sent Mark E Smith
our first EP and we exchanged a few letters, his being ones of humorous
encouragement.’

‘I Want More’ is a cover of Can’s only ‘pop
hit’ from their 1976 album Flow Motion. The repetitive refrain of the
title initially comes across as joyous, the soaring melody and rousing
chorus of voices conveying a celebratory hedonism, but the song takes on
a more foreboding edge against the backdrop of 21st century excess and
its darker implications: ‘Don’t care if I break the law/I want more and
more and more . . . ‘

‘Paddington’, which is scheduled to be the
first single off the album on 9 March 2015, celebrates London through a
blur of evocative, fragmented images – a random memory recall of life
in the city. Meanwhile, the coiled, moody electronica of ‘It Didn’t Take
Long’ with the ice-in-veins kiss-off of ‘I’m not sorry I hurt you’, is
followed by the gleeful artificial power of the synthesizers on the
instrumental, ‘MKS Lover’.

‘Like I Do’ is gripped by a
propulsive rhythm and staccato phrasing, mapping out a cross-roads
moment in someone’s life. Will they recognise it? Can they tell up from
down; real from fake? ‘Deep In The Mine’ is at the core of the album.
‘I imagined a cavernous and yet claustrophobic space with endless
passages running off it,’ says Arthur. The soul-mining lyric is
delivered with a roughened-up, husky richness by the singer that reveals
new depths to his voice.

The tart ‘Acid’ is what happens when
wit turns to bitterness, while the playful ‘Useless’ is the most openly
‘pop’ song on the album – a whirling, giddy four minutes built around
the sweet and pithy lyric, ‘everybody loves you/useless as you are.’

The
album, which is mixed by Adam Fuest, closes with one of the best – and
darkest – songs Arthur has written so far, ‘Bloody Hell Fire’. Featuring
some wonderfully atmospheric guitars, his own playing is layered with
that of David Rhodes (Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel), who adds inventive
guitar to many of the tracks on the album. ‘Bloody Hell Fire’ conveys a
sense of world-weary detachment (‘I don’t know if I exist’) through
another striking vocal by Neil Arthur. For all its bruised, existential
self-pity, this track is sung with haunted passion and arguably creates
a moment of raw beauty which has been rare so far in the nervy energy
of Blancmange’s catalogue.

Semi-Detached is Blancmange’s 5th
album to date, but the first without the involvement of Stephen
Luscombe, Neils long term collaborator. While retaining Blancmanges
characteristic humour, with this new album Arthur has moved on from some
of the old ticks and mannerisms to create an edgy, pared down and
deeply personal record, getting the balance absolutely right between
grit and light, the domestic and the cosmic, despair and joy. 

DELUXE EDITION DISC 1


1. The Fall 


2. I Want More


3. Paddington

4. It Didn’t Take
Long

5. MKS Lover 
06. Like I Do

7. Deep In The Mine 


8. Acid 


9.
Useless

10. Bloody Hell Fire

DELUXE EDITION DISC 2:

1 I Want Your Love (Extended Version) 

2 Silk Sea                                             

3 That Worm

4 Paddington (Extended Version) 

5 I Want More (Extended Version)              

6 Like I Do (Extended Version)

7 Useless (Extended Version)

8 Paddington (Alternative Edit)     

9 I Want Your Love                                    

This deluxe edition comes with a second CD of exclusive and extended mixes. A limited number will be signed by Blancmange.

THIS ALBUM IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS A LIMITED EDITION 12″ VINYL LP