The Scissor Sisters will break their four-year silence on June 29th with a new album called Night Work. In a recent BBC interview frontman Jake Shears said that the band went through a dry spell after the “neutered” blahness that was Ta-Dah so he moved to Berlin, did a shitload of partying and eventually realized it was time to bring sexy back. Thus, the music on Night Work is inspired by “the hedonism and liberation and tragedy of the 80s”, themes bluntly represented on the cover by a Robert Mapplethorpe photo of ballet dancer Peter Reed’s flexed buttocks. Shockingly, Shears had to fight hard for this ass-y artwork:
Oh my God yeah, nobody wanted it. Management, band, label – everybody thought I was out of my mind. But I knew the moment I saw it that that was the album cover. There’s a sense of unabashed in-your-face sexuality. It’s got a sense of humor, it’s playful, and it looks like someone who’s just been dancing their ass off. And that’s what this record’s about.
Below you can listen to two tracks off Night Work: the epic album closer “Invisible Light”, which features a spoken word interlude by English actor Sir Ian McKellen, and the lead single “Fire With Fire”.
Enjoy! It doesn’t get much gayer than this!
And here is the full Night Work tracklisting:
1. Night Work
2. Whole New Way
3. Fire With Fire
4. Any Which Way
5. Harder You Get
6. Running Out
7. Something Like This
8. Skin This Cat
9. Skin Tight
10. Sex and Violence
11. Night Life
12. Invisible Light
Wow! This is so amazing. Ian McKellen’s interlude is awesome. and so, so gloriously fabulous. I love it.