End Of The Tunnel (Vinyle)

http://www.renaud-bray.com

http://www.renaud-bray.com

*** Résumé en anglais seulement ***For seasoned Australian alternative stalwarts Atlas Genius, their third album – and first in nineyears – End of the Tunnel on the Orchard comes after a trying time that included leaving WarnerRecords and then their adopted base of Los Angeles for home just before the pandemic shutdown the world. Whether that’s a light or an oncoming train in their path, the band’s leadvocalist/guitarist/writer and founding member Keith Jeffery is looking ahead, not over hisshoulder, on 11 songs which reflect that turmoil and growth, both personal and universal, overthe past several years.“We’re happy enough just to get this album out, above everything else,” admits Keith, with theband in “musical purgatory” due to another aborted label deal. “We have no expectations thistime.”The previously released “Elegant Strangers” is a melodic ode to the drug-fueled L.A. fauxschmooze culture, “dressed for the morning sun/Mirrors and razors,” already charting atSiriusXM’s Alt Nation. The opening disco-inflected track, “Falling So Hard,” offers a longingsong for a lover “oceans apart.” It’s a theme explored as well on “Nobody Loves Like You,” withKeith’s falsetto and funky guitar solo underlining a tale of missing someone “half the worldaway,” a dance-rock track that combines the club floor and the furthest reaches of the arena. Theepic orchestral intro to the geo-political tract “Don’t Let Love be a Stranger,” “Can’t Be AloneTonight” and “On a Wave,” inspired by Keith’s passion for surfing, sport an anthemic melodicdrive with whisper-to-a-scream dynamics.“It’s not really about the water, though I used to love to surf,” says Keith about “On a Wave,”“It’s like riding that emotional roller coaster, trying to maintain your balance despite all of life’sups and downs.”“Romans” examines a dysfunctional relationship Jeffery experienced while in L.A. “We wereseemingly under control, like Romans, but we were really just bullshitting and using oneanother,” explains Keith, a Pisces and admitted “hopeless” romantic. “Animals” and “Do MeThis Way” offer thumping, funky odes to unbridled, passionate lust.“’Animals’ is just about the chemistry between people,” observed Keith. “The coy games thatcouples play, the dance of courtship which results in marriage and kids or is simply a one-nightstand. ‘Do Me This Way’ is about indulging in all the wrong shit in L.A., when you should befocusing on what you need to be doing.”“All for nothing, all for show/If all else fails, at least we rode,” “On a Wave”Atlas Genius started out in Victor Harbor, a tiny town an hour south of Adelaide on the coast ofsouthern Australia in 2011 with Keith and his brothers Michael on drums and Steve on bass andkeys along with keyboardist Darren Sell, working out of a home studio they built with fundsfrom playing at local bars. Signed worldwide to Warner Records, Atlas Genius released a three-song EP and two full-length albums. The debut, When It Was Now, dropped in 2013, producingthe SiriusXM Alt Nation hit, “Trojans,” the album peaking at #3 on the Billboard Alternativechart (where it remained for over 52 straight weeks), and #34 on the Billboard 200, with asecond single, “If So,” hitting #8 on the Billboard Alternative Songs chart. Inanimate Objectscame out two years later, with the first single, “Molecules,” going Top 10 on Billboard’sAlternative Airplay chart, where it spent 22 weeks before the band was unceremoniouslydropped.“We have to remind people that we’re still here,” acknowledges Keith. “I feel very positive aboutthings now. You have to go through a really shit period to appreciate what you’ve got. We’reready to put the past behind us, to emerge from the ‘End of the Tunnel’ into the sunlight. We’reexcited to start playing these new songs for people. It’s about time.“This is by far our strongest album from front to back, mainly because we had the time to get itright. These 11 songs are the best from the more than hundred I’ve written over that time. I’mjust very happy with how it turned out.”