From the same outfit who brought you 'Oil-Powered Machine' and 'Be Water My Friend', Fold go even one better this time with the impossibly catchy 'Two Past Midnight'.
Having become known for their incorporating resounding speeches into urgent tracks, this latest is the Leeds trip-hop collective's tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer, a black American who helped push through the US Voting Rights Act of 1965 that first guaranteed minorities the right to vote.
Released on May 4 (on limited gatefold CD and digital download), both sides of the single - 'Two Past Midnight'/'Don't Kid Yourself Baby' - feature sampled lines from the empowering speech Hamer gave in Berkeley, California in October 1969. The A-side is, according to the band's Seth Mowshowitz, "essentially a bastardised form of funk written and performed through the lens of hip-hop and infused with elements of punk and rock. The B-side is pure funk relief."
'Two Past Midnight' is perhaps Fold's most accessible and radio-friendly release so far. It's not hard to be grabbed by the funk rock beat and synth intersections, along with Fannie Lou’s speech samples calling for change.
We asked Mowshowitz to explain a little about the importance of Fannie Lou Hamer and the reasons behind featuring her on the single.
"I'm glad you asked about why we chose Fannie Lou Hamer for this record as that is the most important thing to us," he says. "Within the hierarchy of issues facing global society apart from those of the physical world (eg climate change) we consider gender inequality and racism to be the most insidious, pervasive and in need of addressing. This is in no small part because they are so extensively denied. It is not widely acknowledged among those of white European heritage that we (I include myself) are in fact the direct and disproportionate beneficiaries of an astoundingly wealthy society built upon some of the most heinous crimes against humanity, namely slavery."
"One group that has had a particularly tough time in terms of suffering, struggling and receiving little recognition of either, are the women among African diaspora including Fannie Lou Hamer. Most importantly, the single is as much a tribute to Mrs Hamer, as an acknowledgement of the fact that 50 years beyond the civil rights movement the impact of both racism and gender inequality still damages the lives of many millions of people around the globe. We want to help people to be inspired today by those who fought so hard to change things yesterday."
Stream both sides of the single below. You can also catch Fold live at the following upcoming shows.
March
28. Puzzle Hall Inn, Sowerby Bridge
May
02. 360 Club at The Library, Leeds
08. Cookies Bar, Halifax
09. 1 in 12 Club, Bradford
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