Stand Atlantic have dropped new single ‘EDGE OF VEGAS’, the latest taste of their forthcoming fifth album ‘GODBREATH’, due October 23 via Virgin Music Group.
There’s an immediacy to ‘EDGE OF VEGAS’ that suits a band increasingly uninterested in staying within alt-rock’s prescribed lanes. A huge melodic hook sits at its centre, but underneath it Stand Atlantic are writing about something considerably less carefree: that point where ambition, momentum and the need to keep moving begin to tip into exhaustion.
For vocalist Bonnie Fraser, the song also reflects a change in how she approached ‘GODBREATH’. Rather than digging around for misery simply because emotional turmoil makes convenient songwriting material, she allowed herself to write from where she actually was.
“I went into this album knowing that I was happy and having a great time, so I was just going to lean into that instead of trying to manufacture some wounded feeling,” Fraser says. “‘Edge of Vegas’ is totally unfiltered. It’s as honest as we can be.”
That freedom appears to be central to ‘GODBREATH’. The band recorded with live tracking at the heart of the sessions, while Fraser’s stream-of-consciousness writing is allowed plenty of room. Musically, they pull from the bright punch of turn-of-the-century pop-rock as readily as contemporary pop-punk, continuing the refusal to sit comfortably in one corner that has increasingly defined Stand Atlantic.
‘EDGE OF VEGAS’ follows previous album singles ‘Velcro’ and ‘LUCID’, together beginning to sketch out what the next version of the Sydney four-piece might sound like. Five albums in, there’s less interest in proving where Stand Atlantic belong and considerably more in following whatever makes sense to them.
The band have earned that freedom. Since 2017 EP ‘Sidewinder’, Stand Atlantic have amassed more than 500 million streams, toured extensively across Australia, Europe, the UK and North America and appeared everywhere from Good Things and Reading & Leeds to Warped Tour and Slam Dunk. Their nothing,nowhere. collaboration ‘Deathwish’ alone has passed 57 million streams.
‘GODBREATH’ won’t remain a studio creature for long either. Stand Atlantic launch their Australian tour on the same day the album arrives, with Chicago pop-punk outfit Knuckle Puck joining them for all five dates.
The run begins at Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall on October 23 before heading straight to the band’s hometown for the Enmore Theatre on October 24. Melbourne’s Forum follows on October 28, Adelaide’s Hindley St Music Hall on October 29 and Fremantle’s Metropolis closes proceedings on November 1. Go HERE for tickets.
Before then, Stand Atlantic have ‘EDGE OF VEGAS’, a song that finds them staring at the point where the wheels might come off and deciding there’s probably a decent chorus hiding there.
‘EDGE OF VEGAS’ is out now. ‘GODBREATH’ arrives October 23.
