Having recently released the Cupid’s Head LP (the opening track of which was one of our favorites of the year) via Kompakt under his more common handle, The Field, Axel Willner has announced that he’ll drop a new album early next year as HANDS. Positioned as Willner’s “noise/drone project,” HANDS’ forthcoming The Soul Is Quick LP will see a release via the Ecstatic label, an imprint helmed by Kompakt affiliate Walls. The forthcoming full-length appears to be a highly contextualized effort, with its four tracks sharing the name “Beelitz-Heilstätten” in their titles, a reference—according to the press release—to “a 60-building treatment sanatorium complex southwest of Berlin, and built in the late 19th century to help rehabilitate the growing number of tuberculosis patients in the expanding city of Berlin.” Furthermore, Willner himself describes the album as “a protest record for when you’ve had enough of how the world works, when you find yourself taking inspiration from human decay rather than brighter things.” Said to have been produced using only “a Roland JX-3P, Roland SH-101, Tenori-On, and Elektron Machinedrum,” Willner’s The Soul Is Quick is set to drop on February 10 of next year. In the meantime, its artwork and tracklist are included below.

01 Beelitz-Heilstätten pt6 10.50
02 Beelitz-Heilstätten pt7 09.06
03 Beelitz-Heilstätten pt10 07.13
04 Beelitz-Heilstätten pt11 13.08