City Calm Down have just dropped a new video for ‘Distraction/Losing Sleep’ off their sophomore album Echoes In Blue.
Directed by Mclean Stephenson who has worked with Sarah Blasko and Alex Cameron.
With their long-awaited second album Echoes In Blue out now, Melbourne’s City Calm Down are preparing to hit the road. I OH YOU is thrilled to unveil ‘Pride’ – the brand new single and video from the four-piece, which is available for streaming and purchase here.
“‘Pride’ explores the feelings of lashing out at loved ones due to personal insecurities, pushing them away without explaining why,” says lead singer Jack Bourke.
City Calm Down return to the UK and Europe next week for eight headline shows, as well as appearances at The Great Escape (Brighton) and Gold Sounds (Leeds). Then in June, they’ll return home for their upcoming Echoes In Blue national tour – presented by triple j. These shows will be City Calm Down’s ONLY headline shows for 2018, and they will sell out. Don’t delay in grabbing tickets!
Wollongong fans, we have you covered, with a brand new show announced for Saturday 23 June at UniBar @ UOW. Tickets are on sale now.
We’re also thrilled to announce a list of stellar local acts who will be joining City Calm Down on the road in June/July:
All AU shows: Melbourne singer/producer Woodes, aka Elle Graham, is described by Purple Sneakers as a ‘force of nature’. Winner of Unearthed’s Beyond The Valley 2016 comp, check out captivating singles ‘Origami’ and ‘Dots’ plus her latest collab with Katz,‘Spinning Out’. With gigs under her belt alongside BØRNS, Lanks and Ásgeir, don’t miss Woodes live on stage.
All AU shows ex. Adel, Freo, Hobart: If the feel-good clip for ‘Superstar’ is anything to go by, Melb rockers IV League are destined for big things. They took out triple j’s Laneway 2017 competition and have been in the studio with City Calm Down producer Malcolm Besley. Frontwoman Bella Venutti and guitarist Lachie Gilmour are onto something pop perfect and fuzzy.
Brisbane only: Offering up their heady DJ skills for the evening is none other than pop wunderkinds The Creases, who’ll join CCD, Woodes and IV League on the night. With their debut album Tremolow recently nominated for Queensland Music Awards ‘Album Of The Year’, we reckon they’ll be ready to party!
SA only: Adelaide fans will be treated not only to Woodes, but to local six-pieceWorkhorse, whose seven-track EP No Sun was released last year and is available on Bandcamp now.
WA only: Get there early to catch Fremantle’s jaunty five-piece The Spring Peaks, who have performed alongside Birds Of Tokyo, The Creases, and Tiny Little Houses. The charming popsters recently released their self-titled debut EP – check out track ‘Strung Out’, plus ‘Supermarket’ and ‘No Curfew’ up on Unearthed.
Tickets to all shows are on sale now via citycalmdown.com. See you there!
CITY CALM DOWN
ECHOES IN BLUE TOUR
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
JUNE & JULY 2018
With special guests Woodes (all shows), IV League (all AU shows ex. Adel, Freo & Hobart), The Creases (DJ set – Brisbane only), Workhose (SA only),
The Spring Peaks (WA only)
Presented by triple j, I OH YOU & Collective Artists
GENERAL PUBLIC ON SALE NOW
via citycalmdown.com
Friday 8 June
The Tivoli | Brisbane, QLD
18+
ticketmaster.com.au | Ph: 136 100
Saturday 9 June
The Gov | Adelaide, SA
18+
thegov.com.au | oztix.com.au
Friday 15 June
The Forum | Melbourne, VIC
18+
ticketmaster.com.au | Ph: 136 100
Saturday 16 June
Metropolis | Fremantle, WA
18+
oztix.com.au | Ph: 1300 762 545
Thursday 21 June
Bar On The Hill | Newcastle, NSW
18+
oztix.com.au | Ph: 1300 762 545
Friday 22 June
The Metro | Sydney, NSW
18+
ticketek.com.au | Ph: 132 849
Saturday 23 June
Unibar | Wollongong, NSW
18+ | NEW SHOW!
moshtix.com.au
Saturday 30 June
Odeon Theatre | Hobart, AU
18+
oztix.com.au | Ph: 1300 762 545
Friday 6 July
Whammy Bar | Auckland, NZ
18+
undertheradar.co.nz
Saturday 7 July
San Fran | Wellington, NZ
18+
undertheradar.co.nz
Also touring UK/Europe May 2018 – see website for dates.
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Echoes In Blue tracklist:
Echoes In Blue Album |
I OH YOU are thrilled to announce the release of the highly anticipated second album from Melbourne four-piece City Calm Down – Echoes In Blue – due for release on April 6, 2018 on vinyl, CD, and digital formats. To celebrate the news, today the band also debuted new single ‘Joan, I’m Disappearing’ – the album’s evocative opening track, available to stream and download now.
Listen to ‘Joan, I’m Disappearing’ here
Echoes In Blue is the follow-up to City Calm Down’s highly acclaimed 2015 debut In A Restless House, and sees them reunite with producer Malcolm Besley in the studio for a second time.
City Calm Down are currently on the road with Laneway Festival, and today also revealed an upcoming UK/European tour for May 2018 – see dates below.
Jack Bourke (vocals), Sam Mullaly (synths/keys), Jeremy Sonnenberg (bass) and Lee Armstrong (drums) have consolidated strengths and stretched their horizons. Right from the first scene-setting moments of ‘Joan…’ and tracks ‘In This Modern Land’, ‘Blood’ and ‘Blame’, Bourke’s meticulous vocal delivery is more grounded and assured than ever, the band’s moody, synth-laced rock following suit. Of the new single, Bourke says, “‘Joan…’ is about coming to terms with the dissolution of a long-term relationship and how neglect ultimately led to its breakdown.”
Anchoring the album’s epic pop drive is the band’s accomplished songwriting, which catalogues the mounting anxieties of our age with an unflinching eye. As more of our daily life becomes pressurised to meet endless round-the-clock demands, City Calm Down meditate on what’s being lost in that transaction – and why it matters.
“Echoes In Blue is not concerned with answering questions as much as it is with asking them. It is interested in the reality of being spread too thin, of being unable to shut out the noise, where we’re told to buy a house, with a mountain of debt, and do what we love, to be passionate and driven, whilst also making enough time for our wife or husband, boyfriend or girlfriend, for our children, parents and friends. Has life has ever been more exciting or more artificial? Why are we so connected yet feel so alone? Perhaps, in all this excitement, we forget to be bored and examine ourselves a little more closely. Or maybe we should just embrace the rage.” – City Calm Down
City Calm Down recorded Echoes In Blue in two 10-day stretches in February, at Northcote’s Soundpark Studios and Collingwood’s Rolling Stock Recording Rooms, before finishing over the six months at home and Richmond’s Bakehouse Studios.
“We wanted to start opening new doors,” says Bourke, “but we weren’t really thinking about what might follow. We were conscious of not repeating ourselves, while also wanting to keep some of the things we really liked about the first record: aspects of the sound palette and emotion.”
In A Restless House spawned singles ‘Son’, ‘Rabbit Run’, ‘Wandering’, ‘Your Fix’ and ‘Border On Control’, earning over six million streams on Spotify, a Feature Album on triple j, plus spins on Beats 1, FBi Radio, Triple R, and 4ZZZ, coverage from NME, Stereogum, Consequence Of Sound, Indie Shuffle, and Clash, multiple sold-out Australian tours, sets at Falls, Splendour, Sugar Mountain, Yours & Owls and more.
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‘In This Modern Land’ – City Calm Down Out now through I OH YOU
Available for streaming and purchase here
CITY CALM DOWN
ANNOUNCE NEW SINGLE ‘IN THIS MODERN LAND’
+ TOURING UK/FRANCE IN NOVEMBER AND LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2018
I OH YOU is thrilled to announce ‘In This Modern Land’ – the new single from Melbourne four-piece City Calm Down, and the latest track to be revealed from the band’s highly anticipated second album.
Two years on from their surefooted debut In A Restless House, Jack Bourke (vocals), Sam Mullaly (synths/keys), Jeremy Sonnenberg (bass) and Lee Armstrong (drums/percussion) return with the band’s latest offering: soaring synths and horns, an exuberant, bold crescendo, all cemented by Bourke’s striking, unmistakable baritone – heavy and as haunted as your conscience.
In ‘In This Modern Land’, frontman Bourke adopts the perspective of a person coming to terms with, and perhaps embracing, their own social isolation. Contrasted with the soaring instrumentation and melodies, the lyrics highlight the growing disconnect between Bourke and his surroundings.
Since the band’s early Movements EP and acclaimed 2015 follow-up, City Calm Down have paved the way for their upcoming second album (which will see its worldwide release in early 2018) with a run of singles notching up over four million streams, multiple spots on Hype Machine, spins on Beats 1, high rotation and a coveted Feature Album spot on national youth broadcaster triple j.
The band’s strengths – intricate, irresistible synth and guitar hooks, soaring yet melancholic choruses – have earned accolades from the likes of NME, Stereogum, Consequence Of Sound, Indie Shuffle, Clash and more.
Recorded in Melbourne with long-time producer Malcolm Beasley (Northeast Party House, Client Liaison, The Creases), expect an album that explores the emotional idiosyncrasies of our modern, changing world, rendered in glistening keyboards, chugging guitars and triumphant horns. Says singer Burke of the band’s forthcoming record:
“In producing this album, we wanted to introduce new musical ideas whilst retaining the many production qualities and melancholic tension present on In A Restless House. It was difficult getting the balance right between stepping too far to the left and repeating ourselves. We certainly learnt a lot as a group.”
With multiple sold-out tours and major festivals (Splendour In The Grass, The Great Escape, Falls), City Calm Down have also performed with alt-J, CHVRCHES, Bombay Bicycle Club, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs + more. In Feb 2018 they’ll undertake another national trek as part of Laneway Festival.
Before then, in celebration of their new single the band will head to the UK and France this month – dates below.
Praise for debut album In A Restless House:
Nobody sounds quite like City Calm Down’ – NME
‘City Calm Down embrace New Wave and electro-punk, injecting the Joy Division-New Order continuum with traces of The National’s dignified swagger’ – Stereogum
‘Bursting with finely crafted pop, swathed in post-punk and new wave, all anchored by their signature baritone.’ – triple j Feature Album
CITY CALM DOWN
UK/FRANCE TOUR DATES
NOVEMBER 2017
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Available via citycalmdown.com
Thursday 23 November
Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen | London, UK
18+
Saturday 25 November
Supersonic | Paris, FR
18+
Monday 27 November
The Old Blue Last | London, UK
18+
Tuesday 28 November
Soup Kitchen | Manchester, UK
18+
Wednesday 29 November
Stereo | Glasgow, UK
18+
PERFORMING AT LANEWAY FESTIVAL 2018
Tickets available at lanewayfestival.com
Friday 2 February
Harts Mill | Adelaide, SA
16+
Saturday 3 February
Footscray Comm. Arts Centre & Rivers Edge | Melbourne, VIC
16+
Sunday 4 February
Sydney College of the Arts | Rozelle, NSW
16+
Saturday 10 February
Brisbane Showgrounds | Bowen Hills, QLD
16+
Sunday 11 February
Esplanade Reserve & West End | Fremantle, WA
16+
‘In This Modern Land’ – City Calm Down
Out now through I OH YOU
Available for streaming and purchase here
‘Blame’ – City Calm Down
Available for streaming and purchase here
‘Blood’ – City Calm Down
Available for streaming and purchase here
I OH YOU is thrilled to announce the release of ‘Blood’ – the new single from Melbourne’s City Calm Down. The first taste of the band’s highly anticipated second album, ‘Blood’ was premiered on triple j’s Good Nights with Linda Marigliano and is out now.
AUDIO VIDEO: ‘Blood’ by City Calm Down
In celebration of their new single, City Calm Down will be performing new material in six capital cities in Aug/Sept – their first headline dates in almost a year. This will be the only chance to catch headline shows before the band’s next record – tickets go on sale 10am (AEST), Friday 16 June via www.citycalmdown.com.
Inspired by a standoff with a former employer, ‘Blood’ is all formidable, joyful crescendos – the push and pull of a day job versus touring commitments.
“I ended up quitting my job,” singer Jack Bourke explains. “My boss was being inflexible but I was also being self absorbed, and the lyrics reflect that. They touch on the grind of work and how easy it is to isolate yourself from the people who matter to you by being too caught up in your own ambition and what you’re doing.
“This is a place I feel we ended up towards the end of recording the album,” he continues. “We were running late-night recording sessions during the middle of the week when we all had work the following morning, and we were all just emotionally exhausted by the end. Not to let an opportunity go to waste, we really tried to capture that sense of madness in the final chorus.”
For album #2 the band are reteaming with producer Malcolm Beasley (who helmed their debut). The meticulous In A Restless House spawned singles ‘Son’, ‘Rabbit Run’, ‘Wandering’, ‘Your Fix’ and ‘Border On Control’, earning over 3 million streams on Spotify and scoring high rotation across triple j (inc. a Feature Album), Beats 1, FBi, Triple R, 4ZZZ and more. Accolades from internationals such as NME, Stereogum, Consequence of Sound, Indie Shuffle and more; sell out national tour; sets at Falls, Splendour, Sugar Mountain, The Big Pineapple and other festivals. Now, after months of solid work, it’s time for City Calm Down to reveal their next step.
“The new record feels like a natural progression from In A Restless House,” explains Bourke. “There are songs that expand on the themes and songwriting present on that record, and there are songs that mark a clear departure. It also feels much more cohesive… which is probably due to us having a clearer idea of how we wanted the songs to sound before we went into the studio.”
Joining City Calm Down at all shows is hardworking Melbourne soul ensemble The Cactus Channel, whose recent EP Do It For Nothing, with Ball Bark Music’s Sam Cromack, is available via Bandcamp. It’s the latest collaboration for the band, who also worked with Nick Murphy aka Chet Faker on track ‘Kill The Doubt’.
Don’t miss these shows! There’s plenty more to come from City Calm Down…
CITY CALM DOWN – BLOOD TOUR
Presented by I OH YOU, Collective Artists and Five Four Entertainment
Tickets on sale 10am AEST, Friday 16 June
With special guests The Cactus Channel
For more tour info, click here
Fri 25 Aug | Rosemount, Perth, WA (18+)
rosemounthotel.com.au | oztix.com.au
Sat 26 Aug | Mojos, Fremantle, WA (18+)
mojosbar.com.au | oztix.com.au
Fri 1 Sept | 170 Russell, Melbourne, VIC (18+)
170russell.com | moshtix.com.au
Sat 2 Sept | The Gov, Adelaide, SA (18+)
thegov.com.au | oztix.com.au
Fri 8 Sept | Metro Theatre, Sydney, NSW (18+)
metrotheatre.com.au | ticketek.com.au
Sat 16 Sept | The Triffid, Brisbane, QLD (18+)
thetriffid.com.au | oztix.com.au
‘Blood’ – City Calm Down
Out now through I OH YOU
Available for streaming & purchase here