The Horrors return with their stunningly assertive fifth album ‘V’ on September 22 via Wolf Tone / Caroline Australia. The band have also revealed a visually stunning, computer generated abstract video for their critically acclaimed new single ‘Machine’.
 
The album has been previewed by the first single ‘Machine’ which sees the group at their majestic, imperial best, although the ten tracks on the album are so diverse that when the final song and future single ‘Something To Remember Me By’ appears to channel dance, trance and ‘80s pop genres it feels like both the most natural thing in the musical world and also the most surprising. ‘V’ shows the group at the peak of their powers, exhibiting a freedom and sense of exploration that feels truly liberating.
 
“It is a risk,” says Faris Badwan discussing the band’s bold refusal to stand still. “But life isn’t much fun without risk. It’s the antithesis of being creative if you know what you’re going to be doing every time.”
 
Keyboardist Tom Furse continues: “It’s natural, if you do see yourself as an artist, to progress and not play it safe. Bowie pre-empted the modern condition of not being able to stay in one place for very long, and I get frustrated with bands who stay still. Because then it does become a career.”
 
The band have also shared the surreal music video for first single ‘Machine’. Featuring layers of simulations of micro-organisms, the video is the works of CGI pioneerJon Emmony who is known for his beautiful, grotesque and intriguing simulation videos.
 

 
On making the video, Jon said “The video for ‘Machine’ is based around the concept of computer simulation. The creatures, formed from sections cut and twisted from insects, crustaceans and bone are arranged in sculptural compositions inspired by artists such as Hieronymus Bosch; finding the surreal within mixed forms and scales. If left, taken away from an edit, the creatures would continue to exist and their movements would evolve. For me this was an exciting way to create digital imagery as having an element of control removed and then decided by a computer.”