The Cult, King Woman

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Juan Azulay

The Cult

This long-running British outfit reimagined the Doors as an '80s metal band with such hits as “She Sells Sanctuary,” “Fire Woman” and “Sweet Soul Sister.” Nearly four decades later — and still with two original members in lead vocalist Ian Astbury, 60, and guitarist Billy Duffy, 61 — The Cult will release its 11th studio album, Under the Midnight Sun, on Oct. 7. That album was written in lockdown during the pandemic, and lead single “Give Me Mercy” sounds refreshingly relevant while still smoldering like Cult classics. California’s ethereal doom rockers King Woman will open the show.

media release: On October 7 The Cult will release their new album, Under The Midnight Sun, via Black Hill Records.  The band are currently in the midst of a midwest and east coast tour, previewing some of the songs from the album including the current single “Give Me Mercy.” 

Like the rest of Under The Midnight Sun, “Give Me Mercy”was produced by Tom Dalgety (Pixies, Ghost, Royal Blood).  Consequence said “‘Give Me Mercy’ feels classically Cult, as the band envelop their gothic rock influences with a modern sheen” and MXDWN noted “the song is fresh and dynamic.”  The single makes clear that The Cult’s co-founding members, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy, have spent the six years since their last LP pushing further into their esoteric strength. Flanked by Duffy’s dynamic guitar riff, Astbury reaches new heights of sinewy vulnerability.  Watch the “Give Me Mercy” video here:

When the sun just wouldn’t leave the sky one evening in Finland, Ian Astbury took notice. Walking the grounds of the Provinssirock festival, Astbury found himself reveling in the surreal, almost occult moment that comes with the “midnight sun,” the summer stretch where the sun doesn’t go down north of the Arctic Circle. “It’s three in the morning, the sun’s up, and there’s all these beautiful people in this halcyon moment,” Astbury remembers. “People are laying on the grass, making out, drinking, smoking. There were rows of flowers at the front of the stage from the performances earlier that evening. It was an incredible moment.” While reviewing archival footage of the performance, Astbury found new mysticism in that moment and imbued it into the forthcoming Under the Midnight Sun.  

Leading to 2020, The Cult had been on a rolling cycle of releasing albums, touring, and recording. As the world shut down and everyone was forced to reprioritize the way they approached life and work. “When the world stopped, I had this moment to write in real time, to calculate,” says Astbury. When lockdown lifted and the group could meet to record, they teamed up with Dalgety. “I was compelled by this vision, this anomaly, this memory, of being under the midnight sun. Tom helped us bring a new musical shape and frequency to our process.”

Lyrically, Under the Midnight Sun bolsters that new musical dexterity by building out from the idyllic and surreal vision at its title. Throughout, Astbury pulls in influences from Brian Jones, Brion Gysin, William Burroughs, Buddhism, the Beats, and the Age of Aquarius, all shaded with the lingering threat of the present and the timeless Cult color palette. 

As The Cult are now returning to performing live and sharing Under the Midnight Sun, Astbury hopes that the record connects to something deep within and subconscious in their listeners—something Astbury found within himself when given the moment to look for it. “At the core of it all, music contains the vibrational frequency of how we once communicated before we could even speak,” he says. “Bird songs, animal calls, string theory, quantum physics, psychedelics. The record ultimately is about finding and uniting beauty in those strangely natural moments.”