Forgiveness Is For The Weak
The release of the More Knives EP in 2014 officially put Medicine Boy (Andre Leo, Lucy Kruger) on the map as a dream noise duo and seemed to hint at the notion that maybe the best local bands do indeed come from Cape Town. More Knives in itself was a dynamic achievement, layered with riveting soundscapes and poetically rich verses, not to mention the motif of love as a mixed disposition.
Two years after its release, Andre Leo and Lucy Kruger introduce ‘E.V.I.L’, the first single off their long awaited debut album, Kinda Like Electricity, out 15 August 2016. E.V.I.L was recorded at Digital Forest Studio in Cape Town, mixed and engineered by Dave Langemann, and mastered by Johnny Text. To introduce E.V.I.L on a visual level, Andre and Lucy got together with Director (Mark Leonard) and DOP (Ricardo Koopman). What you are about to see is the result of this interaction:
“Looking out over the courtyard at the dirty walls, he realized he had no idea whether it was hysteria or love.”
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
There is a sense of agitation. An uncontrollable thrill. Tremors vibrate off the walls, leaving an impression distorted enough to dream any ache into a desire. The motions surge. A secret in itself. The drums follow suit, subdued as it clatters against the floorboards, the doors, the counters lined with strangers and drinks to imitate the poise of a witch’s spell. It’s a hazy incantation. The lights spill taints of yellow and blue, fabricating the charms of man and woman alike. But their faces are cold. Dormant. They’re waiting for an instruction.
Veils of smoke survey the room. A presence eager to embody both sound and soul. An aura of possession spreads, stemming from the hands and mouths of its makers. Andre Leo and Lucy Kruger converse as two but move to produce as one. In mind, they’re aligned. In spirit, they’re connoisseurs of seduction. And in body, there’s no doubt they’re a match made in heaven, or hell, depending on where the passions rule.
The pastor is the first to sail his hands through the air, allowing the presence entry into his limbs. The temptress leaves her lover and joins the holy man, and two opposing natures course together, delivering one from the other. The dance exudes the instruction that awakes the audience – possession as a condition matures into a principle – and they chant together in unison. E.V.I.L| We know you well. Their faces are in accord, and their mouths, their voices, their being, every aspect becomes the property of an unknown entity. Broken promises| The state of all of this| And all I know forgiveness is for the weak. Hands rise to pay homage to a den of snakes, alluding to the fruit of sin and the archetypes of E.V.I.L.
