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“Clarke & Bell” is a tribute to the pop duo Erasure. But it’s more than that. It also cleverly intertwines that love-letter to Vince Clarke and Andy Bell with a few metaphors. The current era’s digital/AI foundation is put in stark contrast to the 1980’s analogue world tapestry, and ironically decreeing that synthetic decade as authentic reality, and conversely, all things of this current era being the actual synthetic/artificial universe.

The frantic song is about how ridiculous and frazzled this world has become and how the music of Erasure saves us from the shallow banality of today.

Adding more fun dichotomies are a major/minor-shifting main vocal tune, a frenetic breakdown and some deep and sexy, Barry White-esque, porn-tinged double-entendres that equate analogue equipment with sex acts.

The initial instrumental demo of this song was humourously entitled “Escape To The Island Of Rogue Sex Robots” (emphasis on escaping to, not from) and was very The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) sounding with a modern “synthwave” feel, but that slowly morphed into its final hi-nrg incarnation.

Stephano states, “We wanted to have a feel good song and include Erasure in it somehow (because they are the greatest pop duo of all time, Amen!) so Jordan went away and listened to some Erasure (happened to be “Love To Hate You”) and suddenly was struck with the inspiration of building this song’s idea. The analogue synths on Erasure’s Chorus album are so warm-sounding that you often forget you’re listening to a purely synth-driven album. And the melodies are immaculate.”

The single includes a new bonus track called “Star-Crossed,” which features Jordan on vocals along with Tareya, who dueted on the Breathe Of My Leaves single “Supernova Heart” this past winter. The moody “Star-Crossed” is a heartbreak song with a space-y vibe.

A 13-track album is imminent, now having a name and a release date (to be announced soon).

Breathe Of My Leaves is an electronic music project created 20 years ago by multiple award winning director Stephano Barberis experimenting with sounds. Vocalist Jordan Gant is an established singer, songwriter and producer who was previously a part of pop duo Escape The Audience, who were represented by the same management team as The Killers.