RÜFÜS DU SOL ANNOUNCE FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM ‘SURRENDER’ SET FOR OCTOBER 22 RELEASE + SHARE NEW SINGLE ‘ON MY KNEES’ OUT NOW ON ROSE AVENUE AND REPRISE/WARNER RECORDS
Grammy-nominated live-electronic trio RÜFÜS DU SOL have today announced their fourth full length album, Surrender set to land on October 22, and shared a third taste of the album with new single On My Knees, out today on Rose Avenue and Reprise / Warner Records.
Surrender sees RÜFÜS DU SOL stridently building their own world; an album written on their own terms. The band’s electronic roots offer a proud point of separation from other stadium-selling live artists, even as they write songs and play to crowds that break the traditional glass ceiling for dance acts.
On My Knees is a brooding insight into RÜFÜS DU SOL’s darker tendencies, toying with honest emotions and aching lyricism, demonstrating what makes them so unique in the electronic space. While previous single Alive gave a glimmer of hope, and Next To Me a yearning for love and romance, On My Knees has an anguished sense about it, playing into the powerful title of Surrender. The band reference the industrial sounds and sonics of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails, coupled with the lyrical intensity on which their career has been built.
Tyrone Linqvist hauntingly sings “If you could see me now, I’d probably let you down… Looks like I’m on my knees again, feels like the walls are closing in.”
“For this song we had a lot of fun writing something that was darker, driving and a little more edgy,” explains James Hunt. “It’s definitely one of the most banging tracks on the record – we referenced some of our favourite club music for the drum programming and had fun envisioning the time when we could finally play this live. It had an amazing reaction at our Red Rocks shows last month which was really special for us.”
RÜFÜS DU SOL is a band synonymous with tension, they came together through the push and pull of the dancefloor, have a live act whose passion lies on the dancefloor, and lyricists who spill their personal pain for thousands to dance to. From the opening keys of Next To Me, through the propulsive chug of On My Knees, the record inhabits a world that is deep, lush, organic, yet electronic.
This world building has been RÜFÜS DU SOL’s focus since its inception, its name meant to evoke an otherworldly destination, a future point the band dreamed of arriving at from their bedrooms in Sydney, and, later, recording studios in Berlin and LA. This vision was vital to Surrender, as the band wrote songs to transcend the intimacy of the world they built together, exiled from their families, in a DIY ground floor Hollywood apartment studio. The result is a record that is bolder, braver and more far-reaching than anything they have done before.
The accompanying music video was filmed in August during a unique Red Rocks Amphitheatre show rehearsal. The band’s creative director, Alex ‘Katzki’ George, collaborated with Ruff Mercy, an animation director and artist based out in the UK to create visuals/animations on top of the video, giving the project a darker 90’s rave vibe. Ruff Mercy has worked with artists such as Thom Yorke, Disclosure, Run The Jewels and big brands such as Nike, Apple, Adidas and more.
As the band returns to the stage for their North American tour and array of festival performances, they experience once again the immense demand for their live return. Two sold out nights at Red Rocks Amphitheatre; 70,000 fans waiting to see them play across three nights at the Los Angeles Banc of California Stadium; festival appearances slated at Governors Ball, Austin City Limits, III Points; and a host of shows dotted around the south west United States act as a stark reminder to their influence on the global music scene.
On My Knees is out today on Rose Avene and Reprise/Warner Records
Surrender is set for release on October 22
DRAPHT SHARES NEW SONG PROBLEM HERE FEAT. COMPLETE & ELI GREENEYES + NEW ALBUM SHADOWS AND SHININGS OUT SEPTEMBER 10
Aussie hiphop king Drapht will tonight share his electrifying new track Problem Here, featuring fellow local Perth hypes Complete and Eli Greeneyes, dropping at 8pm AEST. Accompanied by a killer video, Problem Here is the second taste of the prolific artist’s brilliant new album Shadows and Shinings, an introspective and complex release demonstrative of Drapht’s impressive penchant for reinvention, out September 10 – and available for pre-order now. To celebrate the new album, Drapht will be hitting the road in September for a massive national tour, kicking off at Settlers Tavern in Margaret River, WA on September 3, then moving through Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Geelong, Maroochydore, Brisbane and wrapping up at Miami Marketta on the Gold Coast on September 26.
Problem Here follows on from the spectacular Shadows On My Walls (that was complemented by the wacky, supremely clever video), a haunting track written “on the verge of a breakdown”, as Drapht himself describes. The two tracks feel connected through the act of self-reflection – Drapht’s uncanny ability to identify the things poisoning his outlook on life and dissecting them through hooky melodies, nostalgic, persistant beats and clever production. Problem Here feels equally influenced by Eminem as it does Machine Gun Kelly and Andre 3000, and with brilliant vocal contribution from Eli Greeneyes (who also produced the track) and Complete, this song is seriously powerful. Speaking on the inspiration behind Problem Here, Drapht explains, “It was the last song written for my album. I had just bought my dream house in the hills of Perth, and the week I moved all my stuff in – planes started flying over. Then I found termites in the roof, snakes in the backyard, and to top it all off I have a toddler at home and I decided to throw a puppy in the mix just for some extra excitement. It was all a tad bit stressful…!”
Filmed and directed by close Perth friends Complete and Uncool Sam from Drop Shot Media, the video for Problem Here is comical and true to narrative, as Drapht enthuses, “This clip was loads of fun and super easy to make, as we just focused on bringing the lyrics to life within the house where the initial idea came about. Thankfully the termites and snakes weren’t living there anymore.”
The new album Shadows and Shinings is a step into new territory for Drapht, but that’s no surprise – Drapht has proven album after album that he will always challenge himself as an artist and push the genre of Aussie hiphop in exciting directions with every release. Shadows and Shinings is a 15-track adventure through the human psyche, contemplative and deep, but still full to bursting with addictive beats and clever production. Finished during the lockdowns of 2020, Drapht explains the process behind the album, “This album to me has been one big purge and a reset for the most part. It kind of feels like it’s meant to be slotted in just after my 2011 release The Life of Riley. Some song ideas had been following me around for 8 or 9 years, with others only being a few months. For the most part I owe finishing it to the isolation period in 2020. I had a lot of time to reflect on the identity and the relationships that came with making music. I found a lot of peace in letting go, going back to what I knew worked and concentrating on the people who truly matter… I worked with a heap of killer guests and friends on this project. There’s a lot of cathartic venting within the subject matter, but in all, it was the easiest and most enjoyable album I have made to date. I truly believe this is my best stuff.”
Drapht is a national treasure at this point, with platinum records, multi-platinum and gold singles and two ARIA awards under his belt. Shadows and Shinings is a stellar addition to his discography and will further prove his complete legend status, not just in the world of Aussie hiphop, but across the entire Australian music industry. Luckily, fans across the nation will have the chance to see Drapht live on his national tour in September – giving fans a taste of what to expect, Drapht says, “You can expect your old mate, backed by a high energy, six-piece live band of friends, and we’ll be playing 15 years worth of bangers.”
Problem Here featuring Complete & Eli Greeneyes is released at 8pm AEST this evening.
Shadows and Shinings is out September 10 – pre-order now.
ANNOUNCES NATIONAL TOMORROWLAND TOUR + NEW ALBUM TOMORROWLAND RELEASED TODAY
Beloved Australian singer songwriter, Bob Evans has today released his anticipated sixth studio album Tomorrowland, a glorious record written about the passage of time, and the mystery of the past and the future. The album drops alongside the announce of a national Tomorrowland tour set to go large through June with 14 shows around Aus, kicking off at Kingscliff Beach Hotel on June 3 before making its way to Queensland to play Brisbane and Noosaville, South Australia to play Adelaide, Western Australia for Perth and Margaret River, NSW for Bulli, Newcastle, Sydney, Forbes and Cronulla, and finishing in Victoria to hit Belgrave and Castlemaine before wrapping at The Northcote Social Club on June 26. The tour will be supported by Siobhan Cotchin (excluding Frost & Fire and Castlemaine). Tickets are on sale now from www.bobevans.com.au/tour.
Bob Evans is the ARIA-winning alter ego of Jebediah frontman Kevin Mitchell who has graced the Australian music scene for more than two decades and has written some of the country’s most adored songs. With an extensive back catalogue of well-crafted songs full of meaningful, considered lyrics buoyed by that familiar voice, it’s safe to say the latest Bob Evans offering is in sync. Mitchell poignantly explains, “I found that many of the songs and the lyrics I was writing were tied up in and wrapped around time. The album starts with a song called ‘Born Yesterday’, which is about feeling nostalgic for my early adulthood and ends with a song called ‘End of the Day’, which is about the troubling uncertainty I feel about the future and how I reconcile that with being a parent of young children. So I found that most of the songs are dealing with the mystery of the past and the future in some kind of way. In many ways the past is as much a mystery as the unknown future. Memories are funny things and our perspective on the past is constantly changing with time and as we age.”
Over five albums, Bob Evans has cemented his place in Australia as being the acoustic melody king, the folk/rock alternative whose songs became favourites, then beloved and finally classics. Tomorrowland was born during the Covid19 global pandemic, a turbulent time full of great uncertainty for every human the world over, but the result is euphoric, sparkling – a luminescent rock record from an unstoppable songsmith. “Every time an album is released it feels special, a small but significant accomplishment. This one feels a little extra than normal though, having been born out of such tumultuous times,” explains Mitchell. “I’ve never waited so long between the studio and release day before which was hard because I knew I was sitting on something good and I’m just so glad people are finally hearing it. I went into recording this album feeling refreshed, as if I was beginning a whole new chapter for Bob Evans, one with more electric guitars, a live band actually playing live in a room together and not fussing over perfection but striving for feel. There are influences and production aesthetics that I have never brought in to my world before and the end result is one that I’m immensely proud of as being a record unlike any I’ve made before.”
And Kevin Mitchell is thrilled at the idea of getting back on stages to play for fans around the country, performing a bunch of tracks from the new record and of course all the longstanding fan faves too. “I didn’t want this record to be released without any shows to back it up, so we waited and waited and now finally the coast looks at least clear enough to be able to announce a ‘Tomorrowland’ tour that is COVID safe and gets to visit a bunch of cities in different states of Australia,” says Mitchell. “I feel like this tour is going to be celebrating not just ‘Tomorrowland’ but also the joy of being able to go to shows again and experience that strange undying love we all have for a sticky carpet, perhaps a drink or two and someone on stage singing songs and telling tall stories!”
Tomorrowland is out now via Dew Process.
Tickets to the Tomorrowland tour are on sale now from www.bobevans.com.au/tour.
Bob Evans is Kevin Mitchell.