Today, Margaret Chardiet (the human brain behind Pharmakon) announced her next album, Bestial Burden, due out via Sacred Bones this October. The news of a follow-up to last year’s Abandon broke with an album teaser video and some words for the press straight from the 23-year-old explaining the LP’s inspiration and theme.
After seeing internal photographs taken during the surgery, I became hyperaware of the complex network of systems just beneath the skin, any of which were liable to fail or falter at any time. It all happened so fast and unexpectedly that my mind took a while to catch up to the reality of my recovery. I felt a widening divide between my physical and mental self. It was as though my body had betrayed me, acting as a separate entity from my consciousness. I thought of my corporeal body anthropomorphically, with a will or intent of its own, outside of my will’s control, and seeking to sabotage. I began to explore the idea of the conscious mind as a stranger inside an autonomous vessel, and the tension that exists between these two versions of the self.
Surely, the droning, harrowing suspense conveyed through heavy breathing and red-washed internal organs flashing across the screen will appear, in concept, on the six track disc. Anxiety tends to be a defining characteristic in conceptual music composition, so I’m sure it will make an appearance in Pharmakon’s examination of corporeal systems we depend on but can’t control.
Watch the tension-rife teaser video below.
Catch Pharmakon on tour again with Swans this fall (dates below). Bestial Burden drops October 14.
Pharmakon Fall Tour with Swans
September:
25 Brussels, Belgium – AB Club
26 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Paradiso Music Hall
28 Paris, France – Le Marioquinerie
30 La Rochelle, France – La Sirene
October:
01 Barcelona, Spain – Sala Apolo
02 Madrid, Spain – Shoko
03 Durango, Spain – Plateruena
04 Porto, Portugal – AmpliFest
07 Fribourg, Switzerland – FRI-Son
08 St. Gallen, Switzerland – Grabenhalle
09 Torino, Italy – Hiroshima Club
10 Bologna, Italy – Estragon Club
11 Rome, Italy – DNA Concerti
12 Milan, Italy – Alcatraz Milano
14 Zagreb, Croatia – Pogon Jedinstvo
15 Budapest, Hungary – A38 Ship
16 Ljubljana, Slovenia – Kino Kiska Centre For Urban Culture
17 Vienna, Austria – Arena Big Hall
18 Krakow, Poland – Unsound Fest
20 Prague, Czech Republic – Lucenra Music Bar
21 Berlin, Germany – Berghain
23 Leipzig, Germany – Schauspiel Leipzig
24 Cologne, Germany – Gebaeude 9
25 Hannover, Germany – MusikZentrum
27 Hamburg, Germany – Kampnage
29 Dresden, Germany – Beatpol
30 Frankfurt, Germany – Mousonturm
31 Karlsruhe, Germany – Jubez
November:
01 Munich, Germany – Feierwerk
