Swiss prog rock trio Cellar Darling have streamed their brand new single, Dance. The 11-minute long track is released today through Nuclear Blast Records and will soon be available physically in a strictly limited vinyl-only picture disc released directly from the band. You can listen to the track in full below.
Dance takes the listener on a dark musical journey worthy of the band's name, combining mystical folk elements with heavy riffs and intricate structures. The brand new song features hurdy-gurdy, flute, and piano, colours their signature sound. Inspired by the dancing plague of 1518, their lyrics for the first time do not tell of an exclusively fictional world but represent an examination of both our history and current events.
"This is the reason we've been so quiet these past few months," the band explain. This is Dance. We have never put so much work into one piece of music before. And although we always want our music to speak for itself, we'd like to share a few words with you about the journey this song has taken us on. The story of Dance comprises three parts:
"Chapter I - PAST: As you might have guessed, Dance originated in the sessions for our concept album The Spell. It was supposed to be another chapter of our story about a girl who falls in love with death, but the song ultimately didn't make the cut. It wouldn't quite leave us alone either, so about one year ago, we decided to dig it up and give it another go.
"Chapter II - PRESENT: As rewarding and exciting as the intense work on the concept of The Spell was — from creating a storybook soundtrack to putting everything into prose — once it was completed, we were done with it. Anna was ready to let go of that story and rewrote all of the Dance lyrics and most of the music. This time, inspiration came from two sources: the dancing plague of 1518, which is a fascinating story in itself, and an engagement with our contemporary world: doesn't it sometimes feel like we're in the process of dancing ourselves to death?
"Chapter III - FUTURE: This song, which we share with you today for the time being only as what it is, i.e. without a flood of images, is only the first part of this extensive project. A collective of brilliant artists has interpreted Dance visually and transformed it into their own world of images. Stay tuned for more…"
