“I heard someone say once that you don’t know what real power is until you’re on the wrong side of it,” Algiers front man Franklin Fisher has said about his band’s title track to the album The Underside of Power, came out on June 23rd via Matador Records. The psych-soul troubadours are mindful of privilege — who has it and who does not here, choosing to point out how the have-nots are particularly vulnerable to those in positions of authority. “I’ve seen the dead walk among the living,” Fisher sings against a stomping beat, reminding us to look beyond our individual and collective bubbles.
Responsible for one of the most critically applauded LPs of the year The Underside Of Power, US experimental ‘dystopian soul’ quartet Algiers will play the U.K in November.
Hailing from Atlanta, Georgia and featuring former Bloc Party sticksman Mat Tong among their ranks, The Underside Of Power scored unanimous praise, Clash lauding the disc ‘It is one of the year’s very best albums, and sets out Algiers as one of the decade’s very best bands’.
Signed to US indie powerhouse Matador (Savages, Kurt Vile, Yo La Tengo), the LP was produced by Adrian Utley of cherished group influence Portishead. Fronted by the stunning vocals of Franklin James Fisher, their lyrics draw inspiration from the present tumultuous age, the group’s music a dazzling combination of classic sixties soul and post-punk experimentation influenced by Afrobeat, Big Black, Public Image Limited and Nina Simone, alongside the film scores of John Carpenter and Wendy Carlos.
With the new album surely set to be a staple of the year end lists and a European stadium tour opening for Depeche Mode recently completed, 2017 is shaping up to be Algiers’ biggest year to date.
The Fat Angel Sings 