The Chemical Brothers have released “The Darkness That You Fear”, their first new music since 2019’s No Geography – a record described by Q as having “the dizzying, adaptive plasticity of their best work” and “vividly melodic, restlessly inventive” by Uncut.
Built around two distinct and disparate vocal samples and a woozy swirl of psychedelic sound, The Darkness That You Fear is the sonic equivalent of light at the end of the tunnel – a rush of hope and a pointer towards a brighter, more open future.
The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands said: “The Darkness That You Fear” is a hopeful piece of music. When we found the combination of the different voices worked set to the flow of the music it made us feel optimistic, like it was something we wanted to share.”
A wildly hallucinogenic and beautifully evocative video for the track has been made by Ruffmercy, the Bristol based director who has previously worked with artists such as Thom Yorke, Run The Jewels and DJ Shadow. You can check the “Darkness That You Fear” video out below.
Ruffmercy on “The Darkness That You Fear”: “When I first heard the song I immediately connected with the theme and the overall positive vibe. New government rules for relaxing lockdown had been announced and combined with the sun shining, it left me feeling positive about the forthcoming summer. It also triggered a strong sense of nostalgia that led to me going back to look for visual inspiration from the period in time when I first discovered The Chemical Brothers in the mid ’90’s. The video combines archive rave footage from the mid to late 90’s with hand painted Super 8 film textures and hand drawn animation. I love using colour to create chaos and evoke emotions and this was the perfect project to do that.”
The sleeve for “The Darkness That You Fear” is from an artwork by the revered British abstract artist, the late Sir Terry Frost. A limited 12” of the track will be released as part of Record Store Day 2021, for the first drop on, June 12.
“The Darkness That You Fear” is the first Chemical Brothers release since the No Geography track “Eve of Destruction” was released to coincide with their huge autumn 2019 tour that culminated in a sold out show at London’s O2 Arena. The Chemical Brothers (along with longtime visual collaborators Smith and Lyall) also created the closing installation for ‘Electronic – From Kraftwerk to The Chemical Brothers’ – the most popular exhibition London’s Design Museum has ever held.
The Chemical Brothers have been confirmed as Friday night headliners at this year’s Creamfields festival in Daresbury, Cheshire (26th – 29th August – the event has already sold out) and Sunday night headliners at TRNSMT in Glasgow.
