Dirty Beaches announces new instrumental LP Stateless for November, shares first track

Alex Zhang Hungtai, the mad genius behind Dirty Beaches, has finally announced the release date for his new instrumental album, Stateless. The LP, made up of four lengthy compositions, will be out on November 4 through Zoo Music. Hungtai has also shared the opening track, “Displaced.” Snippets of the album had already been featured in a trailer Alex Zhang Hungtai put out a couple of weeks ago to tease the album, and which we duly shared with you in our Chocolate Grinder section.

It’s no surprise that “Displaced” is quite reminiscent of Phill Niblock, György Kurtag, or even Ligeti’s work; Hungtai summoned Italian composer Vittorio Demarin to collaborate on the album, asking Demarin to play the viola while he tackled the saxophone, aside from the synths and effects he usually mans. A short statement accompanying this announcement would seem to suggest the album deals with the cyclicality of human experience. Hungtai has also pointed out that the album’s title and mood reflect on his transnational background: he was born in Taiwan, raised between Honolulu and Montreal, and has spent the last years in Berlin and Lisbon. Judging from “Displaced,” Stateless will offer the (postmodern) exploration of dread we find in Dirty Beaches’ previous albums, perhaps with the lo-fi electronic vibe overtaken by an uncannily opulent character — a register more than apt for the album of a man on the “never ending search of an imaginary homeland.”

The album follows last year’s fantastic double LP, Drifters/Love Is the Devil. Alex Zhang Hungtai has had a scarily prolific career; Stateless is his sixth full-length release, among a myriad of EPs, soundtracks, and collaborations. Furthermore, although Dirty Beaches has always skirted the avant-garde with a post-punk-tinged electronic music, Alex Zhang Hungtai had actually veered very close to Stateless’ sonic territory on the last album, with the several fully-instrumental sections of Love Is the Devil. Listen to “Displaced” below:

Stateless tracklisting:

01. Displaced
02. Stateless
03. Pacific Ocean
04. Time Washes Away Everything

• Dirty Beaches: http://www.dirtybeaches.bandcamp.com
• Zoo Music: http://www.killzoomusic.com

[Photo: Aja Emma]

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