The second album of music by Mathias H. Tjønn as Racing Heart, What Comes After is a political record trying to be personal rather than preachy. It contains songs about society’s impotent solutions in the aftermath of The Great Recession (“Flogging a Dead Horse”), office visits to the power players of the world (“A Prayer from Our Leaders”), reports from the front lines of our endless conflicts with no clear enemies (“Squaring the Circle”) as well as tracks about all the rest of us caught in the crossfire.

Produced by Hanne Hukkelberg, the album is a stark departure from Racing Heart's debut record in both style and substance. Instead of looking inwards, they look outwards. Instead of being folk-based, they aim to meld acoustic instruments and synthesized sounds. This album has sharp edges.

Genre-wise What Comes After is an experimental pop album inspired by musicians such as David Sylvian, Winston Tong and ANOHNI. Mixing some of the sounds of the early 80’s with a multitude of contemporary voices both real and artificial, What Comes After tries to make some sense of the way neoliberalism and its faceless language of finance-first has led us here.

Helped greatly by the creativity of musician Jenny Hval who contributes both lyrics and vocals, the songs are propelled by the drums and programming of Martin Langlie (Susanne Sundfør, Pantha du Prince).

Recorded and mixed in Oslo, Norway and New York City, What Comes After will be released digitally and as a phono postcard worldwide via Misra Records on September 16, 2016.

Racing Heart was formed in Brooklyn in 2010. Two years later To Walk Beside that Ghost was released on Movemountains Records, with members from The War on Drugs, St. Vincent and Sufjan Stevens’ bands joining the studio sessions.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING:

"Oslo transplant and prime creative force Mathias Tjønn's distant muse feels just as irrevocably lost as Justin Vernon's, though the elaborate wash of harmonies more closely recalls Grizzly Bear, Local Natives, or even Maps & Atlases. There's an intricate allure in the interplay between Racing Hearts' rippling auto-harp, precisely shaded drumming, and queasy analogue synths." - SPIN

"A staggeringly majestic folk album informed as much by classical baroque as ’70s AM gold, Nick Drake, and harmonious contemporaries like Grizzly Bear and Bon Iver." - A.V. Club