The album’s second single „Betelgeuse“ is out today, new album out on October 3rd. Cleaning Women, an experimental group consisting of three cleaning robots (CW01, CW03 and CW04), reveal the following about the new single from their upcoming album Washer:
„Betelgeuse is a red giant star in the constellation of Orion. It is at the end of its life cycle and could explode at any moment. Or it may have already exploded, but because it is so vastly distant, its light will travel hundreds of years before the explosion will be visible on Earth. The song is also about the fact that at any moment things can change and disappear. It represents the most melodic side of the new album and probably of the whole Cleaning Women discography. The soundscape also presents something new. For the first time, it features the newest member of the Cleaning Women instrument family, a roaster-built six-string low-register vibraphone.” Listen to Betelgeuse HERE
Washer is Cleaning Women’s fifth album. It started from scratch with the construction of the new Vacuum Sound Space studio back in 2020. Things took time, material was created and discarded, arrangements were edited and the form of the content needed work. All instruments are still homemade, but as the band searched for a new sound, even the responsibilities within the band were rearranged. Percussionist CW03 sometimes clung to the stringed instruments and laundryman CW04 also scooped the rhythm section with his robotic hands, still holding on to the melodic screams with one limb. CW01 wove a web together with his electric Viola de Gamba/Cello hybrid and his coffee-bean-can-bouzouki.
On the other hand, the whole five-year period has not been spent just working on the album. Since the previous album, Intersubjectivity, the band has also composed film music on many fronts, including the Oscar-nominated Italian short film Le Pupille, as well as live film scores, such as the collaborative film project Katastrofielokuvien loppukohtauksia (Final Scenes of Disaster Films) by the award-winning artist couple Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen, which premiered on an open-air cinema at Kansalaistori in Helsinki to over 11 000 spectators. From this project, the instrumental track Vortex was rearranged and ended up on the album. The album also includes the longest recorded track of Cleaning Women’s career, the almost nine-minute Caput Mortuum.
But what is Washer?
„It can be many things. It can be a washer that pressure washes your brain and turns your colored laundry black and white, and a bit stale. It can also be a washer that doesn’t get all the surfaces quite clear. Washer also means spacer, or medal. Cleaning Women’s homemade instruments include several washers to keep the nuts just right.“, the band comments, and continues:
„The new album is the most versatile Cleaning Women ever. The drying rack has given some space to the harmonies, but there are still strong percussive elements. And a certain basic dystopian vibe that is characteristic of Cleaning Women shines through, whether we like it or not. Compared to the previous albums, musically we’re probably closest to the 2009 U album, but there’s a certain progressive edge that’s even stronger on this album.“
