Australian soul music innovators TheBamboos return with their genre-defying new album, ‘Fever In The Road’, released 8th November on Pacific Theatre through Inertia, with a national tour starting on 29th November.
Band leader Lance Ferguson once again enlisted
John Castle (Washington, Josh
Pyke, Gossling, Pez and
Kate Miller-Heidke) to co-produce ‘Fever
In The Road’, the band’s sixth record and first on
Ferguson’s own label. This repeats the same winning combination
that worked on the band’s breakthrough 2012 album ‘Medicine
Man’, which garnered them three ARIA Award nominations
(Best Independent Release, Best Urban Album & Best Live Act), and
saw the single “I Got Burned” feat. Tim Rogers
reach #54 in Triple J’s Hottest 100.
What they have created together at first seems leaner and more
muscular than previous albums, but upon closer inspection reveals
itself to be densely layered, with strings, organs, synths, extra
guitars and more allowing darker moods to roam throughout. This
change in approach is reflected on the album’s lead single
‘Avenger’.
Never strangers to guest appearances in the
studio and on stage (Aloe Blacc, Washington,
Tim Rogers, Daniel Merriweather,
Lyrics Born, Alice Russell), The
Bamboos have eschewed this approach on ‘Fever In The Road’, with
regular singers Kylie Auldist and Ella
Thompson contributing to all eleven tracks. Ferguson
explains: “I love to work with different vocalists in the
studio, but I really felt with this album that I wanted us to make a
definitive statement as a band. The last album was guest-heavy and
this posed certain problems when we took it live. Now we can go out
there and just do what we do.”
Amid a glut of revivalists re-treading the retro waters, The
Bamboos have carved out a signature sound that embraces classic and
current influences whilst weaving them into something altogether
unique. “I always want to make a better record, a different
record. The Bamboos had their roots in certain genres but now it’s
been blown wide open. Now it feels like we can go in many
directions…our direction…”
The Bamboos will embark on a national tour after the release of
‘Fever In The Road’ in November and December, performing songs
from the new album along with crowd favourites taken from their now
extensive catalogue.
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