Will Archer, AKA Slime, has today shared the video for “Hot Dog” – the lead single from his forthcoming debut album Company, out August 14th 2015 – via Nowness.
Watch now here.
Directed by Daniel Brereton, the eerie, bucolic and slightly absurd clip follows the travails of a solitary human hot dog through the beautiful British countryside, echoing the surreal beauty of the song’s off-kilter, lonely soulfulness.
At a time when electronic music feels dominated by brash bombast and hyper-real concept, the ten elusive, unsettling and emotional tracks of Company offer a master-class in nuance and sincerity. Coalescing into one unique statement, Company is as distinct and fully-formed as any debut album in recent memory, a blurred window into a deeply private, focused and possibly-quite-unusual artistic vision.
Recorded over two years in-between a number of behind-the-scenes collaborations, orchestral performances and the artist’s on-going education after a relocation from Archer’s native Newcastle to London, Company was brought to live in a window-less rabbit warren of a studio in Hackney where Archer spent every available waking hour amassing a staggering body of work, coming to total almost 400 tracks by the time he took them to Dillip Harris (Mount Kimbie, Micachu) for mixing in early 2014.
The result has an undeniable sense of intimacy, as if the listener has chanced upon a secret late-night confessional. Unlike a lot of his peers, Archer prefers not to shout, expressing very direct ideas in a soft voice. It is at times obtuse, elliptic, alien, and then suddenly melodic – which is to say, a little out of step with a lot of what else is currently around. More so, it feels borne of that same late-night ‘3am spiritual’ culture that defined late 90s electronica/instrumental hip-hop, music that was deeply personal and private, that was often hidden from the light but found a voice regardless.Archer knows there’s power in silence and restraint, because you need to lean closer to hear.
‘Company’ will be available on CD (WEIRD051CD), LP (WEIRD051LP), Deluxe LP (WEIRD051LPX) and Digital (WEIRD051D). The Deluxe LP is heavyweight coloured, off white vinyl and comes with a bonus CD-R mixtape of original material by Slime. You can pre-order the album via Dom Mart HERE or iTunes HERE. Pre-orders will feature 2 instant grats – Hot Dog and My Company.
Archer plays his debut live show at the Courtyard Theatre in London on September 2nd. Tickets are available here.