Soccer96, the collaboration of Danalogue (a.k.a Dan Leavers) and Betamax (a.k.a Maxwell Hallett), will release a new album in September.
Between them, the London pair have become synonymous with the thriving London jazz scene and, in their mind-bending incarnation as the synths-and-drums pairing, they’ve traversed stylistic worlds. Launched in 2012 with a self-titled album, Soccer96 is a vessel for them to find clear water from their multitude of other collaborations, their most notable being as two-thirds of The Comet Is Coming alongside Shabaka Hutchings.
Dopamine, the third album, following 2016’s As Above So Below, is inspired by the idea of humanity’s entanglement with technology and artificial intelligence. The record is darker in some senses than what they’ve put out before.
The title refers to the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure, which enables technology to hack into our minds and control us, creating addiction and dependency. It began life as a sonic reaction to the graphic novels of Moebius’ Jean Giraud. The duo then started swapping reel-to-reel tape ideas through each other’s letterboxes during lockdown, before eventually convening in the studio and displaying one of the revered French artist’s images in the middle of the studio for inspiration.
“All musical decisions would centre around this image,” Betamax says. “It was a depiction of a cosmic traveller gazing across a desert at a sort of crystal city. If the music was resonating with the image then we knew we were on the right path.”
Alongside the announcement, Soccer96 have shared lead single “Dopamine” featuring Nuha Ruby Ra on vocals, who sings from the perspective of human and machine throughout the track.
Artwork comes from Phil Hale, with layout by Raimund Wong.
Tracklisting
01. Enter The Vortex
02. Prelude to the Age of Transhumanism
03. Speak To Me Only With Your Mind
04. Dopamine feat. Nuha Ruby Ra
05. Entanglement
06. Red Skies of the Anthropocene
07. Sitting On A Satellite feat. Salami Rose Joe Louis
08. Use Music To Kill
09. Perfect Dystopia
10. Telepathic DNA
11. Interplanetary Meditations
12. Carry Us Home
Dopamine LP is scheduled for September 10 release. Meanwhile, you can stream “Dopamine” featuring Nuha Ruby Ra in full below and pre-order here.
