When he isn’t busy writing and promoting books and fronting Underworld, Karl Hyde likes to get his hands dirty in all sorts of projects. Matthew Herbert has released music as Herbert, Doctor Rockit, Radio Boy, Mr. Vertigo, Transformer, and Wishmountain, in addition to producing and collaborating with Roísín Murphy on her first solo album Ruby Blue and remixing Ennio Morricone, Quincy Jones, Bjork, Yoko Ono, John Lennon and REM.
Even by their own ground-breaking standards, Fatherland is a unique collaboration with the cast of Fatherland; a play premiering at this summer’s Manchester International Festival exploring and interrogating modern fatherhood. It uses interviews from Corby, Stockport and Bewdley in 2015, when the writers and producers undertook a road trip connecting their own home towns and collecting stories of fathers and fatherhood from family, friends, and strangers.
Musically, it initially sounds a little strange when detached from a dramatic context, but it gradually makes a lot of beautiful sense. Hyde’s singing is as distinctive as ever, but this time articulating several disparate voices rather than his trademark stream of consciousness nocturnal street poetry.
Fatherland is a challenging but rewarding listen, auguring well for the forthcoming production. Let’s hope we might get to see it this side of the pond sometime.