Happenings: Molly Nilsson drops video for Excalibur from upcoming Un​-​American Activities LP

With her Un-American Activities album set for release on the 7^th of July, Berlin-based vocalist and musician Molly Nilsson has shared the official video for featured track Excalibur. The video sees Nilsson embark on road trip through America.

Un-American Activities is the eleventh studio album by Molly Nilsson and was written and recorded entirely on location in California at the former home of writer, poet and early opponent of the National Socialist regime in 1930s Germany, Lion Feuchtwanger and his wife Marta. An album of experimentation, genre-mashing and, above it all, Nilsson’s instantly recognisable melodic skill and empathy, it continues the songwriter’s explorations of power, freedom, oppression and its opposing force, a love unbound.

After accepting an artist residency as part of the Villa Aurora programme, Nilsson began work crafting a new album from scratch in a new environment, afforded the freedom, space and time to challenge her practice and take her music into new territory.

Un-American Activities is a love note not only to the artist who was among the very first to be declared an “enemy of the state” by the Nazi regime but also to both the eternal struggle he fought and the human spirit that pervades all of Nilsson’s best work. It is also a double-pointed poison pen letter: a critique of the new forms of oppression wielded by her temporary adopted country of the USA but also an acknowledgement of the promise it always offers but never fulfils.

Un-American Activities can be pre-ordered in CD and a limited-edition black vinyl edition on Bandcamp. The album comes out via Night School Records and Dark Skies Association with support from VATMH e.V. Nilsson plays Grey Scale Festival this weekend – check out her Facebook page for further details.