Having moved from Puerto Rico to New
Orleans, ÌFÉ is back with a new single and video from their
upcoming release, 0000+0000,
out Nov. 5. Check it out
right here:
The
track, “Fake Blood,” was inspired by the Adam Curtis documentary
Hypernormalisation,
which asks “why are the systems—government, economic—that we
have in place so universally recognized as lousy but also as
unmovable?”
Otura
Mun, ÌFÉ’s creative center, started writing the song about
America’s response to the 2017 shooting in Las Vegas, or rather,
the lack of a response.
“Gun
violence is so rampant and mass shootings so common that the reaction
to each new shooting seems somehow more bizarre and absurd than the
last,” Mun says. “The solution to the problem is obvious, yet
nothing will change because the political discourse is devoid of any
real honest or sense of personal responsibility for the horrors we
have created past and present.”
The
song features Parisian-Congolese vocalist and sapeur Robby The Lord, and
the album features guest spots from Yoruban guitarist Saint Ezekiel,
and Herbie Hancock’s legendary percussionist Bill Summers.
The
song portends an album of contemporary electronics blending with
rhythms from Ifa, a West African divination practice of which Mun is a devotee. It’s rare dance music that brings a heady mix of
spirituality and joy to the floor, warm but still urgent.