Why do you work a job you hate?
When your life becomes so stagnate
Now we all need money to survive
But what’s the point when you’re only half-alive?
Brigitte Handley, the antipodean architect of electric elegy, merges spectral swagger with machine-born momentum in Cyber Nation, her latest collaboration with Cologne-based conspirators Matahari Ranch. Known for her deep-throated vocals, serrated guitars, synths that sigh and surge, Handley wields her sound like a scalpel: precise, piercing, and ever poised to draw blood from the digital age.
Cyber Nation howls for the “virtual electro generation,” a chrome-plated hymn for hearts beating in binary. Theremin coils around chant-heavy choruses like static around skin, fusing glam-glitch theatrics with electroclash adrenaline. It’s dancefloor decadence viewed through dystopian glass: a future-rock ritual drenched in sequins and server dust. Think Goldfrapp’s growl, Air’s after-hours drift, Depeche Mode’s dark romanticism, with a dash of Santigold’s strut and political commentary.
Visually bolstered by ambient video art, and driven by BH’s ever-feral guitar, the live incarnation becomes less a gig, more a séance with circuitry. From Sydney’s swelter to Cologne’s cold neon corners, Brigitte Handley continues to conjure chaos and communion across continents: splicing wires, shredding myths, and singing straight through the static. The lyrics rail at the drudgery of dead-end labour and the soul-sucking vortex of virtual life, populated by pixel-puppets, wage-slaves, and algorithmic apostles. It’s a call to revolt, a punked-up psalm for those crushed by screens, systems, and the slow death of daily routine.
“The song has taken a journey from its humble organic beginnings from a simple guitar riff on the acoustic to meet The Day the Earth Stood Still theremins and synth sounds resulting in a future rock electro glam-noir kinda track,” says Handley.
Shot in the steel-and-stone sprawl of Cologne, Germany, the Cyber Nation video collides old-world grit with chrome-drenched futurism. Directed by Evil Twinns in alliance with Heart Art Photography’s Thomas Schaefer, the piece prowls through cobbled streets and brutalist backdrops, framing a city caught mid-transformation. Neo-Gothic arches meet LED glimmers; monuments whisper beneath digital noise.
This is no mere backdrop…it’s a battleground of flesh and firmware, where the past leans into the pulse of tomorrow. Analogue ruins blur into pixel-perfect facades, a visual duet of decay and data. The camera slinks through alleyways and open plazas alike, mapping the metaphysical tug-of-war between architecture and algorithm.
It’s one hell of a bop, perfect for the subway ride to your own daily grind. Blare it loudly!
Watch the video for “Cyber Nation” below:
Brigitte recently lent her vocals to a new project with guitarist, songwriter, and producer Boz Boorer (Polecats, Morrissey, Siouxsie, Adam Ant, Edwyn Collins), contributing a version of I Can Have Both. The track appears alongside a host of artists reinterpreting songs Boorer co-wrote with Morrissey. Boz Boorer: Morrissey Reimagined is out now on CD and Bandcamp, with vinyl to follow soon.
Listen to Cyber Nation below and order the single here.
Tour Dates:
- 12 Jun – Germany : Siegen – Vortex Surfer + Rosegarden Funeral Party (Tickets here)
- 21 Jun – Switzerland: Basel – Art Basel – Cargo Bar – Go!C!Art Festival Switzerland
- 12 Jul – Germany: Koblenz – Vorstädter Bürgerfest am Schenkendorfplatz
More dates TBA
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