Nine years after "Blind," when you look up Hercules & Love Affair on any streaming service, most of the top results are going to be "Blind" and various different remixes and edits of "Blind." It's not fair, but I get it. It makes sense. Over the past decade or so, Andy Butler has made a whole lot of powerful, euphoric music under his Hercules & Love Affair moniker. In particular, Hercules & Love Affair's self-titled 2008 debut is an essential record from that era -- a virtuosic pileup of all the house and disco currents that were swirling through New York around that time. But "Blind" looms colossal because it's "Blind." It's still the greatest moment from Anohni, the one where she put the full expressive power of her scalpel-sharp voice into conveying simple tingling excitement. It's a song about losing yourself, losing your perspective, in the endorphin-rush of bodies coming together, and that is a timeless sentiment. The music is a tidal wave of congas and synth-smears and rubber-band bass and horny horn-stabs. It sounds like the heavens opening up before you. Andy Butler might never make another song like "Blind," and that's OK, since nobody will. But on the new album Omnion, he comes close more than once.
