Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever haev announced their new album, Endless Rooms, out May 6th on Sub Pop, as well as their first North American tour since 2019. Additionally, they are sharing the album’s first taste, “The Way It Shatters,” alongside an accompanying video (below). The band – comprised of Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie and brothers Tom and Joe Russo – return following 2020’s Sideways To New Italy with their most naturalistic and expansive album yet, a testament to the collaborative spirit and live power of Rolling Blackouts C.F. In their own words, Endless Rooms is the band “doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together.”
Lead single “The Way It Shatters” started simply as a home recorded MIDI-jam before expanding into the blistering earworm it is now. It heavily features synth, an instrument rarely seen on previous releases from Rolling Blackouts C.F. The band further elaborates: “It’s about how ending up in your particular situation in life is the result of absolute randomness. If you happen to be born into wealthy Australia or happen to be born into a war zone in Syria. That’s just the way it shatters. So it’s when this good luck is mistaken for a sense of pride in one’s self or their country they become confused and deluded about what’s important. It’s when those on the other side of the luck scale are completely othered and considered not worthy.” In the accompanying video, directed by frequent collaborator Nick Mckk, Joe White plays a man who wakes up on the shore and stumbles into a birthday party, attended by the rest of the band members.
While initial ideas for Endless Rooms were traded online during long spells spent separated by Australia’s strict lockdowns, the album was truly born during small windows of freedom in which the band would decamp to a mud-brick house in the bush around two hours north of Melbourne built by the extended Russo family in the 1970s. There, its 12 tracks took shape, informed to such an extent by the acoustics and ambience of the rambling lakeside house that they decided to record the album there (and put the house on the album cover). For the first time, the band self-produced the record (alongside engineer, collaborator and old friend, Matt Duffy). The result is a collection of songs permeated by the spirit of the place; punctuated by field recordings of rain, fire, birds, and wind. “It’s almost an anti-concept album,” says the band. “The Endless Rooms of the title reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities.”
ENDLESS ROOMS TRACKLIST
- Pearl Like You
- Tidal River
- The Way It Shatters
- Caught Low
- My Echo
- Dive Deep
- Open Up Your Window
- Blue Eye Lake
- Saw You At The Eastern Beach
- Vanishing Dots
- Endless Rooms
- Bounce Off The Bottom
ROLLING BLACKOUTS C.F. TOUR DATES (new dates in bold)
Wed. Feb. 9 – Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre
Thu. Feb. 10 – Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre – SOLD OUT
Thu. Feb. 17 – Eltham, AU @ Eltham Hotel
Fri. Feb. 18 – Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
Sat. Feb. 19 – Canberra, AU @ Kambri – ANU
Fri. Feb. 25 – Melbourne, AU @ The Forum
Thu. Mar. 3 – Adelaide, AU @ The Gov
Fri. Mar. 4 – Hobart, AU @ Altar
Fri. Mar. 18 – Fremantle WA @ AU @ Freo Social
Fri. May 20 – Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas
Sun. May 22 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 *
Mon. May 23 – Norwich, UK @ Waterfront *
Tue. May 24 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy *
Wed. May 25 – Bristol, UK @ Motion *
Thu. May 26 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed *
Sat. May 28 – Northampton, UK @ Roadmender *
Sun. May 29 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute *
Mon. May 30 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Irish Centre *
Tue. May 31 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz *
Thu. Jun. 2 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire *
Fri. Jun. 3 – Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry *
Sat. Jun. 4 – Glasgow, UK @ Queen Margaret Union *
Sun. Jun. 5 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Liquid Room *
Mon. Jun. 6 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK @ Boiler Shop *
Wed. Jun. 8 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street *
Fri. Jun. 10 – Parque Da Cidade, BR @ Primavera Porto
Sat. Jun. 11 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Sun. Jun. 12 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifield Derby
Mon. Jun. 13 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia *
Wed. Jun. 15 – Bergen, NO @ Bergenfest
Thu. Jun. 16 – Oslo, NO @ John Dee *
Fri. Jun. 17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset *
Sun. Jun. 19 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie *
Tue. Jun. 21 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie *
Wed. Jun. 22 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje *
Thu. Jun. 23 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *
Fri. Jul. 22 – North Byron Parklands, AU @ Splendour In The Grass
Wed. Jul. 27 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
Mon. Aug. 1 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
Tue. Aug. 2 – Montréal, QC @ L’Escogriffe Bar
Wed. Aug. 3 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Sat. Aug. 6 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sun. Aug. 7 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
Mon. Aug. 8 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
Wed. Aug. 10 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal west
Fri. Aug. 12 – Austin, TX @ Empire
Sat. Aug. 13 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips
Mon. Aug. 15 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Tue. Aug. 16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
Thu. Aug. 18 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
Fri. Aug. 19 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
Sat. Aug. 20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
Mon. Aug. 22 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
Tue. Aug. 23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
- w/ Stella Donnelly supporting
