Australian rockers Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have announced the follow-up to 2020’s acclaimed Sideways to New Italy, their third album Endless Rooms, out May 6 on Sub Pop. The quintet have also shared a video for its lead single, “The Way It Shatters,” and announced their first North American tour since 2019.
“The Way It Shatters” announces itself as a stylistic divergence for Rolling Blackouts C.F. almost immediately, with an exuberant synth figure leading the way while the band’s usual guitar-rock thrum brings up the rear. But rest assured, it’s there: The track culminates in a driving guitar breakdown before returning to its contemplation of the human race—how, especially when in crisis, we’re all just people doing the best we can (“When it all comes apart / One true heart”).
Rolling Blackouts C.F.—that is, Fran Keaney, Joe White, Marcel Tussie, and brothers Tom and Joe Russo—say of their new song in a statement:
It’s about how ending up in your particular situation in life is the result of absolute randomness. If you happen to be born into wealthy Australia or happen to be born into a war zone in Syria. That’s just the way it shatters. So it’s when this good luck is mistaken for a sense of pride in one’s self or their country they become confused and deluded about what’s important. It’s when those on the other side of the luck scale are completely othered and considered not worthy.
Rolling Blackouts C.F. describe Endless Rooms as the band “doing what we do best: chasing down songs in a room together,” while a press release describes it as “their most naturalistic and expansive album yet.” What began as ideas swapped online during strict lockdowns in Australia found its form in a mud-brick lake house in the bush about two hours north of Melbourne, which the extended Russo family built in the ‘70s—these surroundings defined Endless Rooms to the point that the house appears on the album cover. Rolling Blackouts C.F. self-produced for the first time, working alongside their engineer, collaborator and old friend Matt Duffy to create what they call “almost an anti-concept album,” the title of which “reflects our love of creating worlds in our songs. We treat each of them as a bare room to be built up with infinite possibilities.”
Watch the “The Way It Shatters” video (dir. Nick Mckk) below, and find the details of Endless Rooms and Rolling Blackouts C.F.’s tour dates further down (their new North American shows are bolded).
Endless Rooms Tracklist:
01. Pearl Like You
02. Tidal River
03. The Way It Shatters
04. Caught Low
05. My Echo
06. Dive Deep
07. Open Up Your Window
08. Blue Eye Lake
09. Saw You At The Eastern Beach
10. Vanishing Dots
11. Endless Rooms
12. Bounce Off The Bottom
Endless Rooms Art:
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever Tour Dates:
February
09 – Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre
10 – Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre – SOLD OUT
17 – Eltham, AU @ Eltham Hotel
18 – Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli
19 – Canberra, AU @ Kambri – ANU
25 – Melbourne, AU @ The Forum
March
03 – Adelaide, AU @ The Gov
04 – Hobart, AU @ Altar
18 – Fremantle, WA @ AU @ Freo Social
May
20 – Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas
22 – Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 *
23 – Norwich, UK @ Waterfront *
24 – Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy *
25 – Bristol, UK @ Motion *
26 – Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed *
28 – Northampton, UK @ Roadmender *
29 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute *
30 – Leeds, UK @ Leeds Irish Centre *
31 – Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz *
June
02 – London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire *
03 – Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry *
04 – Glasgow, UK @ Queen Margaret Union *
05 – Edinburgh, UK @ The Liquid Room *
06 – Newcastle upon Tyne, UK @ Boiler Shop *
08 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street *
10 – Parque Da Cidade, BR @ Primavera Porto
11 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
12 – Mannheim, DE @ Maifield Derby
13 – Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia *
15 – Bergen, NO @ Bergenfest
16 – Oslo, NO @ John Dee *
17 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset *
19 – Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie *
21 – Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie *
22 – Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje *
23 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *
July
22 – North Byron Parklands, AU @ Splendour In The Grass
27 – St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club
August
01 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
02 – Montréal, QC @ L’Escogriffe Bar
03 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
06 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
07 – Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts
08 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat
10 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal west
12 – Austin, TX @ Empire
13 – Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips
15 – Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
16 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
18 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos
19 – Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre
20 – Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall
22 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall
23 – Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
(* w/ Stella Donnelly supporting)
