FRESH: ‘Omega Man’ – Paul Draper featuring Steven Wilson

Mansun’s Paul Draper returns as “Omega Man”
Electronic/Synth-Pop

Former lead singer with British band Mansun, Paul Draper, will launch his second solo studio album later in January 2022, the follow up to 2017’s “Spooky Action”.

The title track of the album, “Cult Leader Tactics”, was premiered in the Autumn of 2021 and he’s now followed this up with a cracking second taster with the single, “Omega Man”, with Porcupine Tree lead singer, Steven Wilson.

“Omega Man” was written and recorded remotely by Paul and Steven during the Covid 19 lockdown without ever meeting, which is conveyed in the accompanying video. They exchanged ideas, lyrics and music from their home studios to articulate what they were experiencing as a piece of music. The song’s lyrics reflect the isolation and fears of lockdown, with Paul singing about his fear of losing a loved one without being able to see them before they are gone.

The track is best likened to an electronic synth-pop journey, very much in the style of Depeche Mode, both vocally and in its soundtrack, while the accompanying video captures the desolation and aftermath of such an emotional upheaval. It was filmed and set in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in Ukraine, video director George Laycock and Paul wanted a suitable location to convey and illustrate the lyrics and meaning of the song. The city of Pripyat where the video was filmed, was evacuated the day after the Chernobyl disaster, and remains abandoned to this day.

All the footage had to be cleared by the Ukranian military, especially as the end scenes were filmed next to a nuclear missile early warning radar detector, which was abandoned after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

“Cult Leader Tactics” is a far cry from Paul’s better known antics with Mansun in the mid-late 1990’s, best known for their creepy hit single, “Wide Open Space” and their number one debut album, “Attack Of The Grey Lantern”. The theme of “Omega Man” is subtly referenced in each song on the album and explored in greater details on Paul’s best collection of songwriting yet. Nowhere is this exemplified more than on the instantly catchy and destined to be classic, “You’ve Got No Life Skills, Baby!”. Paul plays the majority of the instruments on “Cult Leader Tactics” 11-tracks, including guitars, drum machines and synthesisers, on an album produced with long-time collaborator, acclaimed producer Paul ‘P-Dub’ Walton at the latter’s Loft Studios, with additional engineering by Scott Knapper.

“Cult Leader Tactics” is released on 28th January. You can pre-order copies by clicking this link

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