Part of Laibach’s appeal over more than four decades has been the group’s ability to reappropriate and recontextualize popular music and art, discovering and even assigning divergent meanings that both complement and clash with the original intention. In doing so, the Slovenian collective has made its approach to cover songs something of an artform unto itself, with “The Future” offering the latest example; an interpretation of the title track from Leonard Cohen’s 1992 studio album, Laibach pay tribute to the poet and songwriter with a version of “The Future” that honors the sardonic and danceable qualities of Cohen’s original, given that particular Laibachian touch that only enhances its dark wit and proves that the artist had, perhaps all too well, predicted what is now our present. “The words melt into the music and the music melts into the words,” Laibach comments, “and you’re left with a kind of refreshment, a kind of oxygen,” the band going on to say that “If I’d have nailed that to the church door like Martin Luther, it’d be a very sinister document!” Featuring guest backing vocals from Donna Marina Mårtensson, Laibach’s cover of “The Future” was produced by the band with Bojan Krhlanko, who also crafted the final arrangements; the single can be downloaded via Bandcamp, with a video created by the band with Tomislav Gangl now available on YouTube.
“The Future” follows the reveal of Laibach’s latest studio effort, the Love Is Still Alive EP, due to be released via Mute Records on January 20, 2023. The EP serves as an extension of the band’s 2019 score for Timo Vuorensola’s Iron Sky – The Coming Race, with pre-orders now available in digital, CD, and limited edition pink vinyl formats on Bandcamp and the Mute webstore.
Laibach
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Mute Records
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Leonard Cohen
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Ilker Yücel (Ilker81x)
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