Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo have unveiled the latest track from their upcoming collaborative album, “Phantasmagoria in Blue”, set for release on Mute in vinyl, CD, and digital formats on 1 September 2023. Their new rendition of “Love is a Battlefield” slows down the tempo of Pat Benatar’s classic 1983 hit.

Mick explains how the idea for the cover came about: “A friend, Emma Pursey, suggested a version of ‘Love is a Battlefield’ for an independent production of Sam Shepard’s play ‘Fool for Love’ she was working on. The idea of adapting it into a duet with a country-style arrangement immediately made sense, especially given the verse lyrics, which are often overlooked in Pat Benatar’s version. Although it wasn’t ultimately used in the play, the idea of recording the song stuck with me, so I brought it to Amanda for our project.”

Amanda continues, “At first, I wasn’t sure if Mick was serious about the song, as it was quite different from the other tracks we were working on. However, once we started developing it together, it became clear that it could be one of the strongest pieces on our album.”

Amanda, a Mexican singer and filmmaker, created the video for the track, drawing inspiration from Emma and the play: “I filmed my parts in the iconic and historic venue ‘Cineteca Alameda’ in San Luis Potosí, which serves as a cultural centre. I thought it would be fun to have Mick projected on the screen, with both of us narrating the story as two actors embody the song’s lyrics during a supposed play rehearsal. The video merges various realities into one dreamlike state or hallucination, with the location and timeline becoming slightly distorted. I’m delighted with the outcome and am excited to see what people think.”

“Phantasmagoria in Blue” is a 14-track album featuring duets between Harvey and Acevedo. They breathe new life into existing duets, reinterpret songs not originally intended as duets, translate songs from Spanish, and include songs sung in Spanish, as well as some original compositions. The album delves into timeless themes such as mortality, love, and humanity’s quest for meaning while embracing the enigmatic and mythical.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Matthew Ellery) Out on September 1st 2023 via Mute is the all new 14-track album by Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo, “Phantasmagoria in blue”.

The album follows a European tour that will see Harvey and Acevedo join J.P. Shilo and Berlin band Sometimes with Others, presented as the Invisible Blue Unicorns throughout May with further dates in Autumn across the UK, Ireland and beyond. Here’s already their interpretation of Jackson C. Frank’s “Milk & Honey”, taken from his 1965 debut.

Mexican singer and filmmaker Amanda Acevedo met Mick Harvey several years ago in Mexico City while Harvey was on tour with P.J. Harvey, but it wasn’t until 2021 that their current project burst into life. After Acevedo initially suggested the collaboration, Harvey sent over some ideas and, Acevedo explains, “The first recording we did was amazing, our voices matched very well”. Harvey expands, “Little by little it started to feel like something that could be an important project and gradually became the dominant focus for the following 18 months.”

Following their initial long distance collaborative work, Harvey and Acevedo met up in Los Angeles so they could continue work in person. Harvey explains, “We aimed big, I wanted it to be a big production to match the level of ambition in the whole idea. I think it’s one of the best things I’ve been involved in, for a long time”.

In LA they worked with Alain Johannes (Eleven, Mark Lanegan, Queens of the Stone Age), recording most of the vocals at Norm Block’s Happy Ending studios in Silverlake. Late in 2022 they continued work in Melbourne, while also playing some shows in Australia together with J.P. Shilo (Hungry Ghosts, Rowland S. Howard) who is also featured on the album playing guitar and miscellaneous instruments. Harvey finished mixing the album, and coordinated the mastering with Mikey Young, before Acevedo returned to Mexico.

About Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo

Mick Harvey is renowned as a musician, record producer and composer who has been active for the last 45 years and is perhaps best known as a member of The Birthday Party and The Bad Seeds and for his long term collaborative work with PJ Harvey and Nick Cave. Aside from scoring a dozen feature films and numerous short films and documentaries, split almost evenly between Australia and Europe, Harvey has also released eight solo albums in the last two decades.

This is Mexican artist Amanda Acevedo’s first project, and sees her stepping out onto the international stage for the first time. After spending 2020/21 studying film in her home town of San Luis Potisí, Acevedo has teamed up with one of her heroes to create a thematically rich collection of duets.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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