Hercules and Love Affair

Hercules and Love Affair took shape in New York around American DJ and producer Andy Butler, functioning as a collective whose singers and musicians rotate over time. Anchored in New York’s club and queer culture, Hercules and Love Affair blends house, disco, acid house, synth-pop and Hi‑NRG-inspired dance music into a sound that is melodic, direct and occasionally dark. The project emerged at the end of the 2000s with the album Hercules and Love Affair (2008) and continued to evolve with Blue Songs (2011), The Feast of the Broken Heart (2014), Omnion (2017) and In Amber (2022). Across these records, Andy Butler has collaborated with a number of performers—including ANOHNI, Kim Ann Foxman, Nomi Ruiz, Shaun J. Wright and John Grant—reinforcing the project’s shifting character. Initially focused on a tight dialogue between disco heritage and club house, Hercules and Love Affair has gradually incorporated colder, slower and more post‑punk textures while remaining closely tied to alternative dance scenes, clubs and festivals.