Photo credit: Tim Saccenti

One of the most interesting stories of the week so far was the news that Laurel Halo had signed to Hyperdub for the release of her debut album, Quarantine.

Halo’s first full album following well-received EPs on Hippos in Tanks and Liberation Technologies (the latter under her King Felix alias), plus a cassette-only ambient record on NNA Tapes, it’s also her most vocal-led affair since her debut EP – eschewing the techno flyovers of Hour Logic for a slower, squishier brand of synth-pop that features often untreated, raw vocals.

We caught up with Halo about signing to Hyperdub, something that happened after “sen[ding] Steve [Kode9] the LP demos back in November … I was shocked when he got back with immediate positive interest”.

“I thought he might be interested in the King Felix tracks but not necessarily the Laurel Halo tracks”, Halo claims. “I’ve been a fan of Hyperdub for years, so it was this insane rush of excitement”.

When talking about Quarantine‘s themes, “Contrails, trauma, volatile chemicals [and] viruses” are all brought up, under the premise of “want[ing] to make something more present than my previous records.”

Quarantine‘s striking artwork, taken from a piece by Tokyo artist Makoto Aida called Harakiri Schoolgirls 2002, is now available to view [above, right]. As Halo puts it, “the piece in real life is so vivid, in person it has this beautiful holographic gridded mylar sheet over the illustration, sadly it’s too expensive to recreate that with the vinyl packaging… I love that it’s brutal and violent but colorful and slow to sink in.”

“I find it super humorous, just how fun these girls are daggering themselves and letting their intestines hang out!”

FACT’s full interview with Laurel Halo will be posted this weekend.

Quarantine tracklist:
1/ Airsick
2/ Years
3/ Thaw
4/ Joy
5/ MK Ultra
6/ Wow
7/ Carcass
8/ Holoday
9/ Tumor
10/ Morcom
11/ Nerve
12/ Light + Space