Alan Vega, the singing half of the massively important New York synth-punk duo Suicide, passed away in 2016. Vega released a handful of solo albums in the ’90s, returning to the minimal electronic music that he’d made with Suicide, and he left behind more recordings that never came out. In 2021, the lost Vega solo LP Mutator finally arrived. Now, we’re getting another one.
The tracks on the soon-to-be-released LP Insurrection date back to the late ’90s, the period right after he recorded Mutator. Today, his estate has shared a video for “Mercy,” which was directed by the former Jesus And Mary Chain member Douglas Hart and which stars models Mateen Ismail and Helena Gawrzyalska. It’s an intense, jazz-damaged track, and it fits right in with Vega’s haunted body of work. Here’s what Vega’s partner Liz Lamere says about it:
Insurrection was created in the time period around 1997/98, after Mutator and prior to Vega’s 1999 release of 2007, and captures the intense energy of NYC in the ’90s, rife with crime, killing, hate, fascism, racism, and moral bankruptcy. You can hear the tortured souls floating through this album. Post-Gulf War angst still enveloped Alan. He was having premonitions about a major terror attack in the US, well before 9/11. The upcoming birth of his son raised further awareness of the state of our world. All these emotions are mirrored in the sounds he magnetized. And true to Vega form, there remains hope and empowerment coursing through the tracks. In the almost three decades of going into the studio with Vega, we recorded significantly more material than the seven albums released. Vega’s intention was to experiment with sound which would become the canvas for the poetry that reflected his vision of the universe. Because the goal wasn’t to make albums, he had no timeline or constraints and would freely follow new paths uncovered along the way.
Below, check out the “Mercy” video and the Insurrection tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 “Sewer”
02 “Invasion”
03 “Crash”
04 “Cyanide Soul”
05 “Murder One”
06 “Fireballer Fever”
07 “Genocide”
08 “Chains”
09 “Jet Lord”
10 “Mercy”
11 “Fireballer Spirit”
Insurrection is out 5/31 on In The Red.
