City Calm Down

Having spent the best part of three years working on their debut record, it’s fair to say that intrigue levels were high when City Calm Down finally surfaced from their extended hibernation six weeks ago, dropping the lead single ‘Rabbit Run’ from their forthcoming debut album In A Restless House (I Oh You, 6 Nov 2015).

Critics from around the world (Stereogum, NME) lapped up the first taste of the LP, while the band’s first headline show in over two years sold out in less than a week.

With momentum continuing to build, it is with great pleasure that we announce that City Calm Down will be heading out on their first ever national headline tour this October, showcasing In A Restless House to fans in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Brisbane before the album’s release in November.

We’re also excited to premiere another new song from the record – ‘Wandering’. Premiered earlier this week by US site Consequence Of Sound, the album cut is accompanied by a brooding short film, produced by Melbourne director Timothy O’Keefe in collaboration with the band.

“We were trying to capture that awkward anxiety one feels when they believe they’re being misunderstood and disrespected, which inevitably leads to palpable frustration if not resolved,” say the band of the video. “We felt that the contrast of a young boy singing the song, which features Jack’s [lead singer Jack Bourke] baritone vocal, would heighten that sense of unease, awkwardness and frustration expressed in the lyrics. We were a bit unsure as to whether that contrast would work, but Casey [who stars in the clip] delivered a pretty amazing performance … really, everything just hangs on his expression and the way he spits the words out.”

After releasing their acclaimed Movements EP and ‘Pleasure & Consequence’ single in late 2012, City Calm Down were invited on tour by alt-j, Chvrches, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Bombay Bicycle Club. The four friends chose to take their time in coming up with a collection of songs that truly represent their musical ambition, pulling apart 70 demos over the past four years before entering a Melbourne studio with producer and friend Malcolm Beasley to record In A Restless House at the start of 2015. The result is a fantastic debut that I Oh You can’t wait to share with you.