New Obsessions, from Kansas City, MO, is the solo project of Jorge Arana, of dark avant rock group Jorge Arana Trio. Mixing opulent Rococo with frenzied post-punk, the new song Lies dazzles in its manic spiral into sonic enchantment.
New Obsessions embraces dark themes and inspiration from classical music, film, and anime soundtracks, then synthesizes them into a post-punk idiom inspired by the Cure, Wire, The Stranglers, and Josef K. These are testimonies to love, death, depression, and dreams with arrangements for organ, harpsichord, and strings, also placing this baroque bard in the same sphere as The Divine Comedy.
Lies explodes with ferocious energy, rivaling that of The Damned as much as it does The B-52s. Its accompanying, surrealist clip, directed by Angela Fleming, shows a Pierrot figure wandering through a labyrinthine garden in monochrome, with flashes of red – perhaps serving as the inner struggle. Its striking imagery evokes German Expressionist silent films, as well as the work of Anton Corbijn for Depeche Mode. A fabulous visual for a genre-defying sound.
Watch the video for “Lies” below:
New Obsessions has shared the stage with Molchat Doma, Spike Hellis, MVTANT, and Le Butcherettes.
“Lies” is out everywhere now.
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