New York, NY (Top40 Charts) On January 20, new wave pioneers Animotion will release Raise Your Expectations, their first studio album in 27 years, through Invisible Hands Music, on LP and CD. Newly reformed, with the line-up including both original front-people, Bill Wadhams and Astrid Plane, Animotion are back with an incredible set of original new music - and a new version of one of their signature hits "Let Him Go."
Today, Billboard.com & Top40-Charts.com premiered "Last Time," the first single to be released from the forthcoming LP, and said "the first offering from the band's return strikes an effective balance between the distinctive sound of '80s pop and more modern production techniques."
Listen here:
Over the past few years, Animotion have been touring the US with their new wave contemporaries Wang Chung, Berlin, ABC, and
A Flock Of Seagulls in enormous outdoor venues.
The new album was produced by Rod Stewart's musical director Chuck Kentis and features phenomenal new artwork from Jay Vigon who was responsible not only for the band's original logo but also created work for clients as diverse as
George Lucas,
Tom Petty and most remarkably, the logo for the
Prince movie "
Purple Rain" (more at jayvigon.com).
Animotion exploded into the hearts and Sony Walkmans of the world's population in 1985 with their global smash hit debut, "Obsession," which reached number five in the UK, six in the US and similarly high positions elsewhere. The song continues to live on, being heavily synced within hit TV shows such as "Nip/Tuck," "Weeds," "WWF Saturday Night's Main Event," and movies such as "Hot Tub Time Machine."
The band's eponymous debut album spawned a second hit, "Let Him Go," which the band have revisited on Raise Your Expectations. Meanwhile, the second Animotion album, "Strange Behavior," was released in 1986 and included yet another hit, "I Engineer." At the end of that album cycle, the band broke up and a third album, also called Animotion, was released in 1989 without contributions from any original members (although it did not break the band's hit-making run, as it generated yet another US top ten single, "Room To Move"). Raise Your Expectations brings the Animotion story back up to date.
The album is available for pre-order via Amazon and iTunes.
