Cabaret Voltaire will release Shadow Of Fear, the group’s first album in 26 years, in November.

Shadow Of Fear is Cabaret Voltaire’s first release with Richard H. Kirk as the band’s sole member. Its genesis was the 2014 Berlin Atonal festival where Kirk played the first show on his own as Cabaret Voltaire, after which he went on to perform across Europe, shaping the sound of the band’s future.

“I started developing tracks specifically for live performance,” Kirk says. “Stuff that was quite stripped back and crude. Every time I would visit a new place to perform, I would write something fresh.”

Kirk recorded the album at Western Works, the studio used throughout Cabaret Voltaire’s history, and he toyed with upgrading his old setup to digital but decided to retain his original equipment. “Making this album reminded me a bit of the old days with Cabaret Voltaire because there wasn’t that much equipment, so you really had to use your imagination,” he continues.

The tone and personality of Cabaret Voltaire is ingrained into its core as it dances across techno, dub, house, and ’70s Kosmische, but it begins a new era for the Sheffield outfit. “The mission statement from the off was no nostalgia,” Kirk says. “Normal rules do not apply. Something for the 21st Century. No old material.”

Originally active between 1973 and 1994, Cabaret Voltaire featured Chris Watson until 1981 and Stephen Mallinder until 1994. The group was inactive until, with Kirk as the sole remaining member, the 2014 performance at Berlin’s Atonal festival.

Tracklisting

01. Be Free
02. The Power (Of Their Knowledge)
03. Night Of The Jackal
04. Microscopic Flesh Fragment
05. Papa Nine Zero Delta United
06. Universal Energy
07. Vasto
08. What’s Goin’ On

Shadow Of Fear LP is out on November 20 on Mute. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream “Vasto” in full below.