ON DEBUT ALBUM ‘HARUMI HOTEL’

September 04, 2020

Marking a moment in time, local Sydney band Fig today unveil their assured debut album ‘Harumi Hotel’ alongside feature track ‘Oh, Come on!’ and announce a special launch show at Oxford Art Factory on September 25th.

Experimental and meticulously put together, the ten track oeuvre was born on the bustling streets of New York and Tokyo, documenting singer and guitarist Tim Burnett’s year living and travelling in the cities respectively. “The album, in a lyrical sense, is about a year I spent living in New York. It was a pretty turbo time.

So much work, partying, equal amounts of love and heartbreak. I think I slept on average 3-4 hours a night, so the year felt like it went on forever.” Burnett recounts. Opening the opus feature track ‘Oh, Come On!’ swirls on a bed of synths permeated with samples; offering an insight of what’s to come.

Recorded by Philadelphia Grand Jury member Simon Berckelman in the confines of Marrickville’s Golden Retriever Studios, the album provides social commentary on themes from love and heartbreak, escapism, nostalgia and the human experience, all brought to life with their signature synth heavy ‘slow-glam’.

Listen to ‘HARUMI HOTEL’

Littered with samples collected from the places embodied in the songs, Burnett explains “I’ve never written songs that were so specifically about times and moments and events, and then plastered samples over the top from special and strange places.”

Its a sophisticated debut with a definitive/refined direction melding influences from Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie and River-era Bruce Springsteen, with the soft psychedelic approach of Japanese musician Harumi, and modern artists like Weyes Blood and Ariel Pink.

Fig have been offering glimpses into ‘Harumi Hotel’ since the end of last year with the release of their debut single ‘I’ll Sleep When I’m Good and Dead‘.

It was followed by the album’s title track, an introspective stripped back slow-glam jam. ‘At the Sign of Connie & Charlie’s’ came at the start of 2020 cloaked in an airy bundle alongside an equally cinematic clip shot by the band in the picturesque Kosciuszko National Park which featured on Booooooom TV and was picked as Rage’s Wild One of the Week.

Their latest release ‘Smog’, the most upbeat on the LP, was premiered on FBi Radio and was featured on NME Australia.

Last month Fig packed out their ‘Smog’ single launch at The Vanguard, with only a handful of shows under their belt they’ve sold out every single one of them including shows at The Lansdowne and a slot on Secret Garden Festival. They’re looking to add another to their impressive list with their upcoming album launch at Oxford Art Factory at the end of this month.

FIG

‘Harumi Hotel’
OUT NOW

performing on

Friday, 25th September
Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
TICKETS

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