Lucky Number Music

The Sydney-based three-piece Middle Kids, formed of lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy, multi-instrumentalist Tim Fitz and drummer, Harry Day, today announce the release of their second album, Today We’re The Greatest, out on March 19th 2021.

Recorded and produced in Los Angeles by Lars Stalfors (St. Vincent, Soccer Mummy, Purity Ring), the follow-up to the band’s award-winning 2018 debut, Lost Friends, is their most personal and courageous effort to date. Moving away from lyrics of a more conceptual nature, Today We’re The Greatest is the open, uninhibited product of fearless collaboration. Showing a real vulnerability, Joy is pulling directly from her own experiences and breaking down barriers she had previously set for herself. About the new record, she said: “I want to make music that loves its listener. Music that makes people feel seen, seen in the tiny little places that hide away in their hearts. I want people to hear our music, and feel a sense of love. And when I say love, it can be challenging, intense and tough. But it’s in the guts.” She added: “It can be easier to live dualistically, splitting the world in two. We want to be able say it’s this or it’s that, but sometimes it’s both — and can we hold both? Can we hold the brokenness? Can we hold the beauty? That has definitely been a defining bit of this album, the fragility in that dance.”

To coincide with the announcement, Middle Kids today share their monumental new single, “Questions”, a charged three-minute odyssey which sees Joy struggle poetically with concepts of honesty and intimacy over an explosive rhythm section and a stunningly orchestrated brass-filled climax. As Joy explains, “Questions” is about the fallacies of intimate relationships; “I used to drink a lot and most of my previous relationships revolved around this. I don’t think I ever really knew them or they me as a result. Questions is about people being around each other but not being close. People who are in intimate relationships can stop asking questions of each other because they are uncomfortable and confusing.” The single is accompanied by a one-take video directed by the band’s cinematic collaborator, W.A.M Bleakley. Watch it below.

“Questions” follows the release of the album’s first single, “R U 4 Me?”, which was the lead track of the week in The Guardian Guide who described it as “a nervy, Strokes-esque floorfiller about flailing around in search of emotional connection that still manages to be a sunny delight.” Other tracks on the album include “Run With You”, written when Joy was a few months into pregnancy with her and Tim Fitz, her husband and bandmate’s, first child. They recorded her 20-week sonogram, and wove the gentle, rapid thump of their baby boy’s beating heart into the last 20 seconds of the track — an exuberant declaration of devotion. Joy’s journey to motherhood and her marriage with Fitz has imbued her songs with a vibrancy that’s unabashedly romantic yet free of clichés. “Stacking Chairs,” with its unique allegories and Joy’s sunny vocals, strikes this delicate balance beautifully: it’s a testament to her deep connection with Fitz and the new, “infinitesimal” love that transformed their lives with their son’s arrival.

Today We’re The Greatest follows the release of Middle Kids’ critically acclaimed 2018 debut, Lost Friends, which was awarded Album of the Year by Triple J Radio and was also nominated for Best Rock Album at the ARIA Awards. The record also earned them support slots with the likes of Bloc Party, War on Drugs and Cold War Kids as well as several US TV show performances including Conan, Jimmy Kimmel and The Late, Late Show with James Corden.

Following their Top 20 charting second album So When You Gonna…, Dream Wife (Alice Go, Bella Podpadec and Rakel Mjöll) today announce the release of a live album, IRL (Live in London 2020), and share the previously unreleased “Cheap Thrills“.

Fortuitously recorded by their front of house engineer at London’s Peckham Audio this past January, it documents what was expected to be the band’s first of many shows of 2020. Featuring highlights from both of their albums, plus Cheap Thrills, the recording has undoubtedly captured a blistering performance that showcases the trio’s trademark ferocity.

Dream Wife say that: “The rock show is the beating heart of this band. We cut our teeth as a unit playing relentless DIY tours before ever releasing music. We often describe recordings as a snapshot of a song at a moment in time, but understanding them as living, breathing, transforming entities through the rock show. Kicking off this year we imagined 2020 to be seriously getting back to touring, to playing shows, to letting these songs live. But… 2020 has not been what anyone expected it to be. 
 
When we put on this small intimate ‘sort of’ secret gig for fans & friends at Peckham Audio back in January we thought it was the first but, as it turns out, it was going to be the only for a very long time. We truly believe in the transcendental power of live music; that you have the power to go somewhere together. We can’t wait to commune with you IRL, at the rock show; to share sweat and joy and rage and grief and energy and love. But for now, we offer you a snapshot of our only rock show of 2020. We offer you a little bit of that energy and rawness and connection captured digitally. It’s not quite the same. But don’t worry we’ll be together, we will be loud, and we will be unapologetically present soon. Lots of love, Your Wives xxx”

Also announced today, the bands explosive second album So When You Gonna… has earned a Top 10 spot in Rough Trade’s Albums of the Year List. Produced and mixed by Marta Salogni, the album deals with topics such as miscarriage and gender equality, and followed the band’s 2018 critically acclaimed self-titled release. The record debuted in the UK Album Chart at # 18, the only album in the top 20 that week to be produced by a womxn and non-male engineering team, as well as the only non-major label release, and at #1 in the Official Record Store Chart of Independent Retailers.

Middle Kids (Tim Fritz, Hannah Joy and Harry Day) have today released their first new music in over 18 months. Premiered last night on triple j, the propulsive “R U 4 Me?” was produced by Lars Stalfors (St Vincent, Cold War Kids, Soccer Mommy) and showcases the band’s capacity to pair unforgettable melodies with raucous, arena-worthy indie rock.

Lead singer and songwriter Hannah Joy explains the alienating inspiration for the song: “I was at university once and there were all these signs on the walls saying “BE NICE IT’S NOT THAT HARD”. The tone of the message itself actually wasn’t very nice or kind…. We are always looking around at other people thinking “are you on my team?”. I think this just results in us all feeling lonely.”

“R U 4 Me?” has a frenzied energy. The band chose to include their own distorted yelling, wailing and laughter (captured candidly between takes in the studio) as the sounds encapsulated the spark and energy of creation at that moment. A little manic, a little wild, a little joyful.

“R U 4 Me?” is accompanied by a moving music video directed by W.A.M. Bleakley, portraying a story of youth, peer pressure, social isolation and the joy of finding a place to belong, which you can watch below.

Middle Kids new single is the band’s first release since their 2019 EP New Songs For Old Problems, which in turn followed on from their critically acclaimed 2018 Triple J Award winning debut album Lost Friends.

Middle Kids will also performing live in a Global Live Streaming Event on October 22nd. Tickets are available now.

Delighted to announce the return of Sunflower Bean with their new single “Moment In The Sun”, premiered by Radio 1’s Annie Mac as the Hottest Record In The World, their first new material of 2020. Produced by Dave Bassett (Vance Joy, Bishop Briggs, Fitz and the Tantrums) and Jacob Portrait (of Unknown Mortal Orchestra), “Moment In The Sun” is out now alongside an effervescent music video made in quarantine with VMA-nominated directors Andy DeLuca and Sarah Eiseman, co-starring Julia Cumming of the band and Marquis Rodriguez of Ava DuVernay’s When They See Us, which you can watch below.

“‘Moment In The Sun’ is about finally recognizing what is important in one’s life, the people you decide to spend it with,” Sunflower Bean explain of the track. “All of these things we distract ourselves with, the never-ending mountain of career climbing, the pursuit of financial success, and the hope that after all that trying you could finally be cool. All of that is meaningless in comparison to one great day, hour, or moment with someone you really love.”

The band further explain of the video: “While quarantining together upstate this summer we decided to make a music video for ‘Moment In The Sun.’ We thought the best way to visually represent the meaning of the song, while also taking inspiration from this isolating time everyone has been forced to live in, was to create two separate worlds. One world which exists totally inside a home, mostly in a lonely bedroom. The other world exists completely outside in the sun and is made up of memories of a summer love. We invited Marquis Rodriguez, who is one of Julia’s best friends since high school and also an incredibly talented actor, to co-star in the video. He was crucial in helping us tell the story of summer love and show those potent memories of tenderness coming to life. While living alone, the character Julia is portraying becomes flooded with memories and moments from the past summer, and as a result her bedroom starts to transform into the outdoor world. We built up the entire bedroom using real sod and flowers. Her memories are brought to life, just like the room.”

Dream Wife – Rakel Mjöll, Bella Podpadec and Alice Go – have just released their  second album So When You Gonna…, earning Rough Trade’s coveted title of Album of the Month. Produced and mixed by Marta Salogni, the album deals with topics such as miscarriage and gender equality, and follows the band’s 2018 critically acclaimed self-titled release. The record has debuted in the UK Album Chart at # 18, the only album in the top 20 to be produced by a womxn and non-male engineering team, as well as the only non-major label release, and at # 1 in the Official Record Store Chart of Independent Retailers. Purchase, stream or download the record, HERE.

Today, Dream Wife share the music video for the emotive album closer “After The Rain”. Regarding the song and its subject matter, Rakel explains: “The song was originally a voice memo I recorded after having a conversation with my sister, she had just discovered she was pregnant, and she didn’t want to go through with the pregnancy. This was happening at the same time as The Human Life Protection Act/Alabama Abortion Ban last May. Going through these multiple waves of community shame, anger at these systems imposed by the patriarchy to own women bodies, lack of trust and feeling disconnected from your own body. And not being able to articulate those feelings.”

 With the video, created in collaboration between the band and director Helga Katrínardóttir, they explain “We have used water in both the song and video to symbolize and explore the singular yet collective experience of abortion. Water is the fundamental for all life. We are 75% water. Water is all and all pain is shared pain. It is our choice to craft the narratives of our own lives and fight the restrictions put on us by a society attempting to control our bodies. It’s feeling all the feelings and knowing that the storm will pass. 

Filmed across expansive Icelandic nature and intimate South London home the film takes the viewer on a journey from the internal to the external, from the singular experience to the collective. The dramatic differences between the interior and exterior shots also speak to the drastically different ways our home countries have mobilised in response to the current pandemic and how important it is to function collectively during times of dislocation”.