Pussy Riot have released their first English language song – a protest song featuring Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Nick Zinner on bass and Richard Hell reading Eric Garner’s final words.                                                                                                                     

Nick Zinner, YeahYeahYeahs

‘I Can’t Breathe’ is dedicated to Garner, who was killed in New York in 2014 after a police officer put him in a chokehold.

The video shows Pussy Riot’s Maria Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova being buried alive in the Russian riot police uniforms that are worn during the violent clashes of police and the protesters fighting

Speaking to NME about the song, the band state that ‘I Can’t Breathe’ song is dedicated to those who can no longer breathe. “To Eric Garner and to all who suffer from state terror – killed, choked, perished because of war and police violence – to political prisoners and those on the streets fighting for change. We all have to protest for those who are silent, and we have to protest for each other, no matter the geography, no matter the borders.”

“‘I can’t breathe’ – these are the last words of Eric Garner. Those words are his, but we hope they can also stand for us and for many around the world, for all who can’t breathe because authorities act with impunity and feel invincible and above the law in using power to humiliate, intimidate, hurt, kill and oppress. We’ve known, on our own skin, what police brutality feels like and we can’t be silent on this issue.”

‘I Can’t Breathe’ was recorded in New York in December 2014 by Pussy Riot with Richard Hell, Nick Zinner, Andrew Wyatt, Shahzad Ismaily (The Ceramic Dog) and Russian bands Jack Wood and Scofferlane.

Maria Alyokhina and Nadya Tolokonnikova were imprisoned for 16 months in their native Russia in 2012 after performing their punk protest prayer ‘Mother of God, Drive Putin Away’ inside Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ The Saviour.

In 2014 they revealed to NME that they have been working in the studio with Le Tigre’s JD Samson. They said they were excited to be working with “some real musicians” as their previous work within Pussy Riot had been as “artists” rather than coming specifically from “the music world”.