Visually it’s the head fuck you would hope and expect from a Gravitonas video. Especially for a single named ‘Religious’ – composed by a famously outspoken atheist. In it, Alexander Bard plays two parts – a therapist guiding a confused patient, and a new age deity out with his muse. Andreas portrays said patient and muse, and as with the last video and Gravitonas’ live performance at Love Stockholm earlier this summer, he’s an utterly striking presence. There’s one certain sequence where he excels in particular – his evil glare turned gurn turned growl from the 3:05 mark until the 3:10 mark is possibly the defining shot in the vid.
But our favourite scenes are two wonderfully twisted moments near the end. Firstly, as Alexander and Andreas are walking towards the sea, there is a moment when their hands almost touch and hold each other, only for them to turn away at the last second. And then there’s the part where we see why they’re walking towards and entering the water – Alexander in the incarnation of a priest baptises Andreas! Brilliant! Religiously so.
So…..the most exciting new act of 2010 are all set to release the second taste of the fruits of their labour!
‘Religious’ is the second single, and is released along with threee other brand new tracks on ‘The Hypnosis EP’ digitally ALL OVER THE WORLD on August 18th. The release of the ‘Religious’ single, with 12 new remixes, will follow. AND we’ll be getting a spectacular video for it on August 25th!
But what does ‘Religious’ sound like?!
Well we’re quite pleased that it’s becoming evident that Gravitonas have crafted their own unique sound. When ‘Kites’ was released as the first single, we didn’t and still don’t know of anything else out there that sounds similar. And with ‘Religious’, the only other song that could be classed as sounding similar would be ‘Kites’. None of Alexander Bard’s previous projects, just the other Gravitonas single. And we love that fact.
‘Religious’ is a four minute (and that’s the radio edit, so the EP version may be even longer!) blast of brilliance! Any idea of traditional song structure is out the window – it’s a composition of music presented to you how they want it presented. It begins as a melodious ballad, backed with a beautiful piano and delivered with a heartwrenchingly melancholic melody. And then the beat kicks in! Soft at first, to accompany the next set of vocals, and then an even bigger beat rears its head.
Our favourite part though is the middle section of the song, which is then repeated again for the last minute. It’s a gloriously OTT mixture of choir chants, almost falsetto vocals from Andreas, and a stunning arrangement of dramatic chords and dark beats. It’s the audio equivalent of a horror theatre dream sequence on a pleasant chemical high! Ghosts, red curtains, masks, screams, and perhaps THAT ballgag image from the group’s own video for ‘Kites’, interspersed with angels, harps, white robes, and cherubs! It’s all very spell binding and totally beautiful.
Lyrically it’s quite epic too. Praying to Idols, kneeling before Apollo, believing in magic, begging favours from ghosts, being a soldier of sin, and ultimately – when I’m back on the dancefloor, I’m religious!
When the debut single is so good, the second single is difficult. But Gravitonas have pulled it off perfectly. ‘Religious’ is absolutely wonderful. Ecclesiastically so!
Gravitonas have announced that they will release ‘The Hypnosis EP’ on August 18. It will contain four new songs including the next single ‘Religious’. ‘Religious’ will also be released as a separate single with remixes on August 25. A video for ‘Religious’ will premiere around this week too.
Their debut album is scheduled for a mid-to-late September release on SoFo Records/Universal Music. It’ll be released physically.
Annikafiore goes through her Alcazar wardrobe in her blog at http://www.annikafiore.com Nice to hear she has fond memories of her time with them. - posted on 10/09/2010 14:08:28
Gravitonas have announced that they will release ‘The Hypnosis EP’ on August 18. It will contain four new songs including the next single ‘Religious’. ‘Religious’ will also be released as a separate single with remixes on August 25. A video for ‘Religious’ will premiere around this week too.