Douglas Dare will release his sophomore LP via Erased Tapes, entitled Aforger.

The follow-up to Dare’s debut Whelm LP of 2014, Aforger is a “deeply personal and intimate portrait of the artist at his most vulnerable, scarred from the pain of mistrust as well as open honesty,” according to the press release.

Central to Aforger are two major moments in Douglas’ life: coming out to his father for the first time, and learning that his partner was committing adultery behind his back.

Previous single “Doublethink” is a reference to the latter, using George Orwell’s famous 1984 concept to describe the pain, disillusionment, and coercion of learning that your partner has been cheating on you while living a double life. “Oh Father” tells the intimate story of Dare coming out to his father for the first time.

“New York” —the video for which is streamable in full below—is the latest single from the upcoming LP.

Tracklisting

01. Doublethink
02. Greenhouse
03. Oh Father
04. New York
05. The Edge
06. Binary
07. Stranger
08. Venus
09. Thinking Of Him
10. Rex

To learn more about the inner workings of Aforger, here’s an excerpt of Dare from a conversation on July 11, 2016.

The album title plays with the idea of a forger—someone creating imitations or copies, and reimagines them as the creator of something that’s no longer real. Prior to writing the record, I came out to my father and came out of a long relationship, both were hugely challenging for me and questioned my idea of identity and reality. These thoughts leaked out into the record and formed the core of Aforger. I was determined not to write a breakup album or repeat what I’d done before..

I grew up on quite an isolated farm in Dorset, surrounded by fields and not much besides. My mother taught piano from home and we didn’t have a computer, or the internet or mobile phones. In fact, my family still chooses not to use these things. It’s worlds apart from my life now in London where technology seems to dominate everything I do.

After finding out my boyfriend had been leading this double-life, I became obsessed with the question of what is real and George Orwell’s 1984 felt appropriate for me to re-read. Orwell explains this idea of reality control and it struck a chord with me. The idea that truth can be steered or changed, and we might be able to believe two contradictory things at once. In my case, ignorance was my protection from the truth and ignorance really is bliss, until you’re no longer ignorant.

“Binary” talks about the idea that technology is allowing us to live on after we’re gone. A relative of mine whose parent passed away kept a picture of them on their phone as a background image. A friend saw this and asked, “How can you have that there to constantly remind you of your loss?’ They replied, “No I have to, it shows me that they’re still here.” This resonated with me and I thought, ‘”Okay, this is just an image to me but to them it’s more than a reminder or a reassurance, it’s a reality.” At the same time, I was finding myself haunted by the digital reminder of my ex-partner and wishing they would disappear. I had to realise that it’s all just pixels on a screen.

I think New York can be thought of as this fabricated, magical place. I was there with my boyfriend after touring the U.S., but when I came back to London I discovered all these lies and began questioning everything. I even questioned whether New York actually happened or not. “New York” is a song that’s literally describing that very real feeling of not knowing who or what to believe any more—scary and magical at the same time.

Lyrically I wanted to be as honest as possible. The album deals with so much dishonesty, so I felt the lyrics had to be the counterbalance. I was inspired by Björk’s album Vulnicura and how everything is almost awkward in its honesty. Like my first album, Aforger started as poetry, but I consciously tried to be less poetic. For instance, “Oh Father” is an example of complete unambiguity. It’s certainly the most personal song I’ve put out there, and the realisation that people may hear it makes me feel very vulnerable. That’s the most real feeling of all for me right now.

Aforger is scheduled for October 14 via Erased Tapes.