Undead goth pioneers Bauhaus have released their first new song in 14 years! The four original members of the band—Peter Murphy, David J, Daniel Ash, and Kevin Haskins—recorded the song, titled "Drink the Wine," during lockdown, contributing their parts remotely. Even more fascinating is that they composed the work using the "exquisite corpse" method invented by the surrealists in the early 20th century. "Drink the Wine" is a wonderfully avant-garde dub track that fuels my excitement about their upcoming tour. Call the curtain, raise the roof, spirits on tonight! From the band's statement:
"Drink The New Wine" was recorded last year during lockdown with the four members sharing audio files. The track employs the Surrealists' 'Exquisite Corpse' device whereby each artist adds to the piece without s"Drink The New Wine" was recorded last year during lockdown with the four members sharing audio files. The track employs the Surrealists' 'Exquisite Corpse' device whereby each artist adds to the piece without seeing what the others have done. Bauhaus have used this technique in the past to great effect. The title refers to the very first Cadavre exquis' drawing rendered by André Breton, Marcel Duchamp, Jacques Prévert and Yves Tanguy which included words which when strung together made up the sentence, 'Le cadavre exquis boiara le vin nouveau' ('The exquisite corpse will drink the new wine.") For the recording, the four musicians each had one minute and eight tracks at their disposal plus a shared sixty seconds plus four tracks for a composite at the end. All done without hearing what the others had laid down. The only common link being a prerecorded beat courtesy of Kevin. The final playback came as synchronistic revelation.
