Noblesse Oblige release Malady - watch "The Great Electrifier" video

Noblesse Oblige release Malady 31st May 2010

Noblesse Oblige are set to release their 3rd studio album Malady, an occult concept album that cites the visual mysticism of Kenneth Anger, Aleister Crowley's storytelling, and the morbid melancholy of Christina Rossetti's poetry.

The long player will be released on CD and download through code7 via Plastic Head Distribution on May 31st 2010.

The album is the conclusion of an exploration of the occult, initiated by the bands' involvement in Robert Pacitti's 2009 London Spill Festival Tarot Deck project, for which Noblesse Oblige (in collaboration with photographer Manuel Vason) were asked to visualize their own interpretation of The Lovers Major Arcana card.

The album's title, partly inspired by Apichatpong Weerasethakul's film Tropical Malady (a modern day ghost story set in the jungle of Thailand) symbolises the mental afflictions and dark temptations of the heart expressed in the album's eerie tales of Voodoo Gods, soul electrification, and tropical fevers.

Further inspiration was the Voodoo literature by Haitian writer Rene Depestre and readings of field research work by anthropologist E.E. Evans-Pritchard and his studies of witchcraft and magic among African tribes. The aura of these texts and stories have been incorporated in many of the songs while Valerie, who during her teenage years lived on the French Caribbean island of Martinique - one of the heartlands of voodoo practice - worked up her own memories of myths and stories told by the locals, including her voodoo priestess neighbour.

Watch "The Great Electrifier" video:

Noblesse Oblige were formed in London, in 2004 by Valerie Renay (a French actress/singer/songwriter) and Sebastian Lee Philipp (musician/ producer). Their debut album 'Privilege Entails Responsibility' is considered one of the classics of the Independent Electro underground scene. After moving to Berlin in 2007, the band released their second album 'In Exile' which won the renowned Russian Steppenwolf Music Prize and an endorsement by the German ministry of Culture. They have played over 300 live shows throughout Europe and South America.

Malady was recorded at the band's own studio in Berlin. Using voices, acoustic guitar, drum machine, live percussion and only sparse electronics, showcasing the band at most stripped down and acoustic production to date that was based on a series of Live-take recordings and minimal post production. The production of the album also features several exotic instruments such as the timbales, kazoo and ukulele in continuation of the band's use of world music sounds, mixed with their traditional blend of kitsch and new wave theatricality-for as dark its subject matter is, Malady contains some Noblesse Oblige's most melodic and poppy moments yet.

Furthermore, the album artwork features photography made in collaboration with Bulgarian artist Kiril Bikov, who has relevantly captured Malady's romantic gloom, incorporating all the elements referred to on the album.

In June the new album and its spectacular live show will be presented on a European tour.

The album released on code7 via Plastic Head Distribution on May 31st 2010 which will also include digital release of Double A-side single: The Great Electrifier / Beck & Call including bonus remixes by Funker Vogt, Eric D. Clark, Lucas Croon, Dunwich, Tolouse Low Trax and Spidersleg.

"Set to cause a stir, with the uber sets you don't want to mess with" - Record Collector

"One of the bands who straddle between performance art and music" - Artrocker

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