SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CABARET VOLTAIRE – BUT WHAT TIME IS IT REALLY?

CABARET VOLTAIRE
BUT WHAT TIME IS IT REALLY?
MEMETUNE

Cabaret Voltaire, initially consisting of Richard Kirk, Chris Watson, and Stephen Mallinder, is an English techno music group that experienced a degree of success with their song “Sensoria” in 1984, which was a perfect anthem to hear during the burgeoning underground dance movement of the 80’s.

With the revival of interest in all things 80’s, Kirk, now the sole member of the band, was given an offer by the Coachella Festival in 2017 to reunite the band but decided against it. Kirk proclaimed, “Cabaret Voltaire was always about breaking new ground and moving forward. It would be so sad to see it as a nostalgia act.”

Four years after Kirk’s death in 2021, Cabaret Voltaire has now become that nostalgia act that Kirk did not desire. Watson and Mallinder performed as Cabaret Voltaire in 2025 at the Sensoria Festival in hometown Sheffield and soon announced both a new tour and live album from their shows.

But What Time Is It Really? is a recording of live music during Voltaire’s UK tour in 2025 with no new compositions apart from the track “Tinsley Viaduct,” which is best described as an experimental art piece that encapsulates the spirit behind the band.

Mallinder stated that they wanted this album to act as a tribute to Kirk’s craftmanship and efforts into the work behind Cabaret Voltaire. The album recreates selections of the band’s musical catalogue from various points since its inception and for a live recording, it is a glorious electronica soundscape.

The album successfully captures the trio’s experimental creations, a nod to the original Cabaret Voltaire, a 1916 nightclub in Zurich where artists gathered to perform non-traditional spoken word, music, and dance that mirrored the chaos and confusion of World War I, and a was a protest to society’s need to conform. The recording of “Do Right” on But What Time Is It Really? is a highlight the band’s effort to join this dissension.

Kirk would have been proud of Watson and Mallinder’s efforts.

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