Algiers Expand “Cleveland” Into 50-Minute, 2-Track Single “Cleveland 20/20”
“Cleveland” was a highlight of The Underside Of Power, the 2017 album from noise-bombed soul-punks Algiers. The track was inspired by 12-year-old Tamir Rice’s death by police shooting and featured a middle section in which vocalist Franklin James Fisher listed off names of Black people killed by police or whose deaths were ruled suicides despite suspicious circumstances. Now the group has expanded “Cleveland” into an epic single called “Cleveland 20/20,” spanning 50 minutes over two tracks.
The A-side, “Cleveland 20/20,” is a 33-minute experimental behemoth. Fisher has added the names of 232 more Black people killed by police since the original “Cleveland” dropped three years ago, as well as victims of the Atlanta Child Murders of 1979-1981, and the music has been blown out into a vast apocalyptic sprawl. The 15-minute “Cleveland 20/20 (Vocal Mix)” brings these names to the forefront, scaling back the cacophony and letting Fisher’s soulful recitation of these lost lives hang in the air.
Hear the full 50-minute single below.
“Cleveland 20/20″ is out now on Matador.