Humanist is the creation of guitarist and producer Rob Marshall, formerly of Exit Calm and co-writer of Mark Lanegan albums Gargoyle and Somebody’s Knocking. The project emerged with a new album jammed with first rate collaborators including Lanegan, Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode), Mark Gardener (Ride), Ron Sexsmith, Joel Cadbury (UNKLE), Jim Jones (Thee Hypnotics), Carl Hancock Rux (David Holmes, Portishead) and John Robb (The Membranes).
When The Lights Go Out is a highlighted single which features Mark Gardener's characteristic vocal, and it's themed "on repeated patterns of behaviour that we can be guilty of slipping into."
Gardener comments on the song: “When The Lights Go Out, lyrically, is loosely my ruminating on circular life patterns of behaviour that we can create for ourselves. Contrasting that feeling and rush of euphoria and moments of togetherness with moments of feeling lost in isolation, trying to work your own shit out! Definitely lots of that going on after doing the vocals for this track and then finding ourselves isolated in the darkness of the pandemic and lockdowns.
"It was an honour to be asked to sing on the Humanist album, with such a great cast of artists that I’m also a fan of. Rob’s music really pushed everybody in lots of interesting directions and created a great fusion which really made this album so interesting and varied. It’s great to react and write and sing to great music like this."
Carrying a sense of late nineties-like union of guitar-bent alternative rock and electronica, Humanist's sound definitely meets the high standards which the album's impressive lineup raises. When The Lights Go Out now comes with a visualizer.
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