A month after unveiling “Swoon,” a synth-funk collaborative single with Nine Inch Nails mastermind Trent Reznor, Bauhaus frontman Peter Murphy has dropped another famous-friend-assisted solo cut. This one is titled “The Artroom Wonder” and features none other than TOOL’s Justin Chancellor on bass.
Opening with a pulsing electronic beat and sparse melody lines, the song soon opens up into big, baroque goth rock in the Murphy style, with Chancellor holding down the low end with characteristic skill.
“’The Artroom Wonder’ is an echo from my fourth year at senior school,” Murphy commented. “Daniel Ash [former Bauhaus bandmate] and I are listening to the mysterious sixth-year cool intelligentsia that have gathered in the artroom. We have dared to enter their conclave, and the music coming from it was intriguing. We discover that the song being played is ‘The Bewlay Brothers,’ highly intelligent, mystical and sensual, with the singer’s voice as seductive as anyone I’d ever heard.”
The song will appear on Murphy’s forthcoming solo album Silver Shade, which was produced by Killing Joke bass player Youth and will also include “Swoon” as well as the previously released “Let the Flowers Grow” featuring Boy George. The LP is due out May 9th via Metropolis Records.