Released to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the devastating nuclear bomb which hit the centre of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945, Super Furry Animal and anti-nuclear activist, Cian Ciarán releases Are You Down With Me? featuring scything wordsmiths Jehst and Wibidi.
Continuing a series of politically motivated and provocative singles, the Strangetown Records release, continues Ciarán’s month-by-month journey to the full release of his collaborations album Hero Leader God.
A committed campaigner against the dominance of the immoral, outdated, expensive and dangerous nuclear industries in the UK and internationally, Ciarán takes the opportunity to release new music on the anniversary of the Hiroshima bomb to highlight the past so people might see present dangers.
Pre-empting the single, and in memory of those innocent lives lost, Ciarán took to YouTube on Wed 5 August, with an exclusive, 6-hour stream of an eerily time-stretched version of Are You Down With Me? It began at 14:15 BST and concluded at 20.15 BST the same evening – the moment of disastrous impact.
Ciarán symbolically tracked the flight of the bomb, Little Boy, on board the Enola Gay aircraft, starting at the time the aircraft took off from North Field Air Base, in the Northern Mariana Islands, matching the 6-hour flight time to the destroyed Japanese city, which suffered an estimated 135,000 civilian deaths as a result of the attack. By inviting listeners to spend some or all of those 6 hours in contemplation, the musician hoped to affect moments of calm consideration as part of a connected, global community of people still dealing with the effects of an event three quarters of a century ago.
He says: “That humanity sank so low as to use its scientific ingenuity to cause such devastation and suffering on such a mind-blowing scale in August 1945 is worth a moment of pause. But, what’s the difference between now and then, when we still invest in nuclear warheads we’ll never use and nuclear power that threatens, rather than builds, communities? When there are so many alternatives, we should ask why politicians and industry still put fear and self-interest above people.”
Following the release of the bracing Keep The Darkness Out featuring She Drew The Gun’s Louisa Roach in July, Ciarán’s collaboration with one of the longstanding mainstay of UK Hip-Hop, both as an artist and label head, Jehst, aims to turn heads towards the fight for hope versus hate that has united them. Long-standing associate of the Furries, Cardiff-based artist, Wibidi, jumps on board in the bright, melodic track with dark undertones riven with evidence of Ciarán’s enduring fascination with electronic music, where the simple questions is asked: are you with them or are you with us?
Are You Down With Me? is the latest track to be revealed as part of Hero Leader God, a long-term project set for Winter 2020 release as a finished album, matching Ciarán’s diverse musical ideas with admired songwriters and wordsmiths, each sharing his desire for change. Other collaborators have included Steve Mason and Stephen Morrison-Burke.
Combining 25 years as a Super Furry Animal with solo projects and broader cultural initiatives, not limited to acclaimed albums (Outside In, 2012 and They Are Nothing Without Us, 2013), but orchestral scores (Rhys a Meinir with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, 2016), installation and film Ciarán is renowned as a happy studio adventurer. His restless investigations into electronic music, as well as a lifelong love of house music, added swathes of bleep, drone and squelch to the back catalogue of adored Furries classics.
Released on Ciarán and fellow Furry, Dafydd Ieuan’s Strangetown Records, more music from Hero Leader God is scheduled to appear in a monthly cycle, leading to the full physical and digital release in late 2020.
Connect with Cian Ciarán online at:
https://twitter.com/cianciaran
https://www.facebook.com/C.Ciaran/
https://cianciaran.bandcamp.com/
