“Astrid’s Tea Party isn’t all social niceties and delicate china… more liable to shatter teacups than serve as background music.” - Pop Matters
“Róisín Murphy on overdrive, with searing guitar and synth licks and drum & bass tight as two coats of paint. Black Swan is an absolute prime example of electroshock – a genre pretty much created by themselves… it’s our new addiction!” – Kaltblut Magazine
“It’s in fact a rather dramatic piece of sprawling, stark and chilly electro pop with singer Astrid diving deep in the intricacies of emotional hazard.” - NBHAP
Fresh off the back of their Great Escape Festival debut, Astrid’s Tea Party, the ‘electroshock’ four piece have returned in style, with a decidedly darker sound in the form of their new single Black Swan. The frenzied, synth heavy affair arrives in the wake of their highly acclaimed debut single What’s In It For Me?, a track that has gained praise from fans and critics alike. Gone are the glamorous sensibilities, in its place stands Black Swan, a track that with its juddering bass lines and assertive rhythm pounds its way into your psyche.
Taking inspiration from the gothic glory of her adopted hometown of Prague, Black Swan delves into the dark recesses of the emotional landscape. In speaking about the video and the bands idea behind it, Astrid comments:
“To give a bit of context, the song and video are influenced by Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s 'Black Swan Theory,’ i.e the impact of unforeseen events on people/society and how this fundamentally changes peoples attitudes. Think stonewall riots, 9/11, emergence of the internet etc. I thought it would be interesting to view the dissolution of a relationship from this perspective… a sort of ‘you may be high on yourself now, but further on up the road others will do unto you what you have done to others.’ If that's not too old testament, this will be your own personal black swan event - a change forever.
In the case of this song/video, we were desperate to avoid the cliche of using iconic black swan imagery such as the moon landing, twin towers, JFK assassination or American civil righters burning the flag etc. Instead, we made a conscious decision to give "eye time" to other possibly less celebrated black swan initiatives, that we feel culturally aligned with such as the pussy riot, Brighton Amnesty International protests, trans acceptance, free the nipple and various other equal rights events, which are at least attempting to shift cultural values in a positive way.... To anybody reading this, I hope this appears as pretentious to you as it did to me when writing it.”
The new single has Astrid leading the attack with a power-punk attitude reminiscent of Charli XCX and Sky Ferreira, regaling us with her tale of revenge that’s evocative of something Nick Cave and PJ Harvey might have cooked up when they were an item.
Check out the new video and see for yourself.
Watch the new video
