To Be Self-Released via New Imprint They Are Evil November 6
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Debuts Lead Single / Video “HOLE” - Watch / Share / Playlist
Multi-instrumentalist/singer/songwriter Nick Rattigan looks to Nu metal, electronica, hip-hop, emo & more to inspire his next maximalist collection of songs. ‘ROSEBUD’ is his first LP since his two hit tracks “Kids” & “Televisions” were featured in ‘Obsession’ and collab w/ rapper Matt Proxy.
photo by Alexis Gross
ROSEBUD is a departure. But then, every Current Joys record is a departure. The solo project of Surf Curse drummer Nick Rattigan, Current Joys has encompassed folksy acoustic music inspired by the Grateful Dead, noisy hyperpop, darkwave, and anything else caught in Rattigan’s dragnet of curiosity.
His career has soared: Triple-Platinum and Gold Record certifications, a member of Spotify’s Billions Club via Surf Curse, extensive global tours, 8 studio albums, 5 EPs, countless singles and collabs with the likes of Lil Yachty (“Gatsby”), Polo Perks, Matt Proxy (“God”), etc. and now his own hit “Kids”, which initially went viral 11 years ago, has reemerged alongside “Televisions” in this year’s cult horror film ‘Obsession’ – all under his belt at just 33.
Now Rattigan prepares ROSEBUD, an album of anthemic choruses and maximalist production. Gaze into it deeply and the faint outlines of heartbreak start to emerge. Try to focus on that portrait and it disappears in a cloud of redlined noise.
Initially, ROSEBUD was a bummer. Rattigan wrote and recorded it while going through a difficult period, and he found himself sitting on half an hour of slowcore songs he could barely stomach. Meanwhile, he was getting his mind blown by the high-concept production of experimental hip-hop artists and cheered himself up working with rappers like Lil Yachty, Polo Perks, Ayooli, and others. It was while doing production and vocals during a session with Matt Proxy’s that Rattigan met Danny Dwyer, the producer who goes by the name never goodbye (“the most beautiful producer in the world,” as Rattigan puts it). Watching Dwyer dial in “God”’s carnivalesque track—which sounds like two or three songs on top of one another, plus seagulls—was a revelation for Rattigan. He sent Dwyer some of the sad-boi songs he’d been sitting on and together they reworked them, adding glitches, screams, foamy curtains of distortion, and whatever else they could think of.
The ROSEBUD you’ll hear soon is a completely different record from the one Rattigan began with, and from anything else in his catalog. It’s punchy. It’s full of big pop hooks shouted through layers of static, sticky Orange County punk chord progressions twisted and chewed up by digital manipulation which is heard clearly on his lead single “HOLE”, available today.
Listen / Share / Playlist “HOLE” | Watch Music Video
At times, Rattigan turns his maximalist ethos on its head, producing exceptionally tender songs made even softer by the unexpected production choices. There are moments throughout ROSEBUD, when the vulnerability at the album’s core begins to reshape all of the sound that’s piled on top of it. But throughout Rattigan calmly plucks out supremely bummed arpeggios on his guitar. No matter how loud the song gets, that guitar line seems to hang in space, a weird bit of human persistence and resilience in the face of overwhelming dissonance.
Rattigan’s always allowed his interests and curiosity to guide how he makes his music—his falling in love with Lil Peep’s music greatly influenced Love + Pop—but ROSEBUD feels like an encapsulation of everything he’s done in his career, even as it sounds very little like any of his previous records. Nu metal, screamo, electronica, hip-hop, power-pop, emo, darkwave—it’s a rush of signifiers. “I wanted it to be a collage of all of my influences,” It’s obvious that bringing together so many different ideas has brought Rattigan to a new level of inspiration.
In that way, it’s appropriate that this is the first record he is self-releasing after many years on Secretly Canadian. ROSEBUD will be released November 6 via his own imprint, They Are Evil, in partnership with Stem. It’s a throwback to his early days of uploading The Nicholas Project and TELE/VISIONS tracks to Bandcamp at freewill, and a tribute to the profound artistic freedom ROSEBUD represents.
Current Joys are currently performing across Europe and the UK. For a full list of dates see below. Stay tuned for North American updates.
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