Radio Free Alice have spent the past couple of years making the distance between Melbourne and the rest of the world look increasingly insignificant. Now the new wave/post-punk quartet are ready to put their name on a debut album, with ‘What’s In Between’ arriving October 30 via Atlantic Records.
The announcement comes with new single ‘Crying With You’, a taut, fast-moving track that puts the band’s knack for sharp melodies and restless guitars front and centre. Its accompanying video is directed by Milo Hume, whose previous work includes Geese and Quarters.
The song began thousands of kilometres from Melbourne during a writing retreat in California’s Joshua Tree. Staying at a property owned by producer Nicolas Vernhes, the band spent a week working through demos and jams. Frontman Noah Learmonth says the verse and chorus actually began life as two separate songs before the band stitched them together, a process they have returned to regularly when writing.
‘What’s In Between’ has been a long time coming. Radio Free Alice have worked across continents with producer Peter Katis, whose CV includes Interpol, The National and Death Cab for Cutie, while Ewan Pearson and Finn Billingham also contribute production to the record. After living with the songs for so long, the band are understandably relieved to finally have a release date attached to them.
The album announcement follows a run of singles that has steadily expanded their reach. July brought the wired ‘Kick in the Shins’, with Michael Phillips’ saxophone cutting through Learmonth’s rapid-fire storytelling, while ‘Lunch Money’ marked their debut release for Atlantic Records earlier in the summer.
Those releases arrive after last year’s ‘Empty Words’ EP and breakout track ‘Rule 31’, which helped push Radio Free Alice well beyond the Australian post-punk circuit. Their rise has been matched by an increasingly hectic touring schedule, including their first North American tour, three sold-out New York shows, Shaky Knees, Governors Ball and six sold-out London dates.
Back home, they have also supported Geese on their sold-out Australian tour while packing their own headline shows in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
If there was any question about how far their audience has spread, last week provided a fairly emphatic answer. More than 500 fans descended on a DIY London pop-up after the band posted little more than a teaser, eventually tracking Radio Free Alice down beneath a railway bridge in Bermondsey.
Next comes Reading Festival, followed by Riot Fest in Chicago, Austin City Limits and an extensive UK and European tour in November. For a Melbourne band whose trajectory has accelerated dramatically over the past year, ‘What’s In Between’ arrives at exactly the point where the rest of the world appears to be catching up.
‘Crying With You’ is out now, with ‘What’s In Between’ arriving October 30 via Atlantic Records.
