Cut Copy release long-awaited fifth studio album

Australian electronic music royalty, Cut Copy unveil their greatly anticipated fifth full-length record, Haiku From Zero out today via EMI/Astralwerks. The band’s first album in four years includes the globally adored singles “Airborne” and “Standing in the Middle of the Field” and arrives 15 years into their illustrious career.

Written and recorded at studios around the world, from the band’s hometown in Melbourne, to Copenhagen, Washington DC, New York and Atlanta – the nine-track release presents a united sonic front. Produced by Ben Allen, credited to tuning the releases of Deer Hunter and Animal Collective, Haiku From Zero is Cut Copy’s arguably most sonically diverse, astutely curated record of their career. Leaning away from the Balearic and acid house textures of 2013’s Free Your Mind LP, the impending release nods towards Afro beat feels, dubby rhythm sections and colourful, expansive synths found in a disco era of yesteryear.

The percolating themes of Haiku From Zero lie in the desire for focus and necessity to cut through the noise. Across each track, surfaces moods of movement, shifting destinations and wringing clarity from chaos. From the balancing act of “Airborne”, resting celestial synths and bottom-heavy basslines with the juxtaposed lyrics of frontman Dan Whitford: “jagged teeth made of glass, rising up”, to the Pitchfork premiered “Standing in the Middle of the Field”, a bubbling hotpot of loping kalimbas and cowbells – lies a residual moment in Cut Copy’s newfound lucidity. The ticking rhythms of “Black Rainbows” rise between confident guitar licks and the band’s signatory call-and-response-like harmonies, while songs like “Counting Down” and “Living Upside Down” offer glimpses of beauty in a state of disco-fueled flux.

“So much of this record is about this mosaic of information, images that we're surrounded by on a day to day basis,” says Whitford. Whether it's via the internet or social media or just the world in general, we're bombarded by a surplus of images and information that seems to randomly stack around us. Sometimes it feels like overload, but there's a weird random beauty in it. The idea of squeezing poetry from chaos was where the title of the album came from—the idea of finding something poetic in the overload.”

This beauty in collision carries across into the band’s live aesthetic and sonic identity. Marrying electro-pop with the fleshed out sensibilities of an indie rock band, Cut Copy have firmly carved their own as an amalgam of the two – an act that has performed on the biggest festival stages and headline venues across the world, from Coachella, Ultra and Lollapalooza in the U.S.; Primavera in Spain, Pitchfork in Paris; Summer Sonic in Japan; and Splendour in the Grass in Australia.

Initially a bedroom recording project by Whitford, Cut Copy became a full-fledged band with guitarist Tim Hoey, drummer Mitchell Scott, and bass player Ben Browning. The quartet’s diverse catalogue, now includes five full-length albums and numerous remixes and singles, nominated for multiple awards. In Ghost Colours received nominations for the ARIA Awards' Best Dance/Electronic Album and Album of the Year at the J Awards, while Zonoscope was awarded Best Dance Release at the ARIA Awards and nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the Grammy Awards.

Despite nearly four years having passed since the release of their last proper full-length, the band has stayed busy. In 2014 they released Oceans Apart, a compilation of underground dance music centered in Melbourne, which was followed in 2016 by January Tape, a cassette-only release of ambient music. In July 2017, the band reemerged for a standout Splendour in the Grass performance, along with headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne to celebrate their forthcoming new music.

Over a decade into their career, Cut Copy are on their way to sharing some of their most refined, yet adventurous work to date – a timeless fifth record to be kept in the music ages.