Premiere: Hortlax Cobra, ‘Viva Le Difference’
By day, John Eriksson sings, arranges, and produces indie tracks as a member of Swedish trio Peter, Bjorn and John. By night, he is synth-pop act Hortlax Corbra, a solo project in which he takes on the persona of a half-man, half-cobra. His video for “Viva Le Difference,” a song off of his recently debuted album Night Shift, exposes this fantastical side to Eriksson’s dance music, as his shining, scaly metal cobra alter-ego turns ventriloquist and has his puppet sing the lead vocals. Pontus Berghe of Thieves Like Us contributed to the arrangement of the album, which Eriksson describes as “if someone from ABBA would have made an album together with someone from Kraftwerk under the influence.”
The video was directed by Ted Malmros, who’s helmed videos for Peter Bjorn and John and his own band Shout Out Louds, for which he plays bass.