Having already topped the charts in 5 countries and with nearly 40 million hits and counting on YouTube, Gotye will release the much anticipated single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ in the UK on 6th February via Communion / Island Records. 2012 looks set to be a very exciting year for hotly tipped Belgium born Melbourne based multi-instrumentalist and producer, Gotye. Following two sold out London shows in October, his album launch show at Wiltons Music Hall has sold out and his newly announced show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire looks set to do the same, proving that the current swell of worldwide support has its sights set firmly on the UK. Upon its online release in June the video for the stunning track Somebody That I Used To Know triggered an overwhelming worldwide response. Just three weeks after Gotye posted it on YouTube the song had received nearly four million hits (this number has now nearly reached 40 million, currently averaging more than 1 million hits a day), topped the charts in 5 countries (Germany, Australia, Holland, Belgium and New Zealand) and made it to No.1 on the Hype Machine Twitter chart. Hear it once and you’ll be haunted by it for weeks. It will be released in the UK on 6th February, a week ahead of the album Making Mirrors. Ask Gotye about Making Mirrors and he’ll speak not of songs, but of sounds. He’ll describe the various valves through which strings and choirs cycle on his Lowrey Cotillion, a vintage organ bought for 100 bucks in a second-hand shop that features on the record. Or how he constructed a bassline by sampling the Winton Musical Fence, an unlikely instrument he discovered in the outback of Queensland, Australia, comprised of five large metal strings attached to wooden fence posts and a resonant chamber. He may mention the horn break from a traditional Taiwanese folk song he discovered on a 1970s Cathay Pacific promotional record, which he sampled, sped up and dubbed out, before introducing it to some Turkish drum sounds. Or the unique, virtual versions of acoustic instruments - among them a chromaharp and an mbira - he created by painstakingly multisampling every note. Listen to Making Mirrors and you’ll be drawn in by the details, transported to a world where every moment matters. This is pop at its most precise, but also electronic music at its most emotional. The record delves into dub, Detroit-era Motown soul, stadium-size politipop, synth-folk and world music on glorious, sprawling, huge-hearted songs. Gotye first found attention with his second album, 2006’s Like Drawing Blood. Influential Australian radio station Triple J named it their album of the year, as did iTunes on its release in the UK in 2008. In Britain, Like Drawing Blood became a cult hit while in the States, it made waves after Drew Barrymore fell in love with single Learnalilgivinanlovin’ and used it in several of her films. Making Mirrors, its extraordinary follow-up, was more than two and a half years in the making. To write and record its dozen sumptuous songs, Gotye moved from Melbourne to a barn on his parents’ remote five hectare block on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. There, he had the space to permanently set up his growing array of instruments and recording equipment, and found the isolation that allowed for sonic experimentation and recording at any time of the day. After Like Drawing Blood, which was constructed almost entirely from samples of old vinyl, Gotye set about making an album using more physical and acoustic instruments. “I ended up sampling a lot of them note-by-note and turning them into virtual instruments,” he explains. “It’s a slow and sometimes laborious process, but it can completely change the sound of the instrument and how you approach playing it. I found a beautiful old chromaharp at an antique shop, and ‘virtualised’ it in this way. It ended up sounding more like an unusual hammer dulcimer when played on a midi keyboard or programmed with software.” Meanwhile, Gotye continued to raid local second-hand shops for obscure vinyl to sample. “For Bronte, the closing track on the new record, I used a sample of ‘60s orchestrator Leo Addeo. He made an exotica record called Calypso which featured lots of wildly out-of-tune steel drums. I pitched some grabs of these around, really messing with the overtones of the samples, and it became a gentle, beautiful loop, while still being quite odd sonically.” On Eyes Wide Open, the first song recorded for Making Mirrors, he sampled some unusual field recordings. “The most obvious field recording is of the Winton Musical Fence,” Gotye says. “I played the fence strings one windy night in the outback and recorded it on a portable stereo. That became the bassline for Eyes Wide Open. I even included the ambience of the barn in the background of Don’t Worry, We’ll Be Watching You.” The dubby State Of The Art, with its spooky, pitch-shifted, sci-fi vocals, is an ode to the Lowrey Cotillion, with lyrics that mention its keys and functions. In contrast, the joyous, uptempo I Feel Better revisits the Motown sound of Like Drawing Blood’s breakthrough single Leanalilgivinanlovin. Gotye launched Making Mirrors in Australia – where he picked up 6 ARIA Awards at the end of last year - last August with two visually explosive gigs at Sydney Opera House and a full Australian tour - all of which were sold out. He will return to the UK for an intimate album launch show at Wiltons Music Hall on 13th February, followed by the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on 29th February.
Album Track Listing:
Making Mirrors
Easy Way Out
Somebody That I Used To Know
Eyes Wide Open
Smoke And Mirrors
I Feel Better
In Your Light
State Of The Art
Don’t Worry, We’ll Be Watching You
Giving Me A Chance
Save Me
Bronte
Artist: Gotye Single: Somebody That I Used To Know – released 6th February
Album: Making Mirrors - released 13th February Label: Communion / Island RecordENCORELIVE:
Wiltons Music Hall on 13th February – SOLD OUT
Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London – 29th February
Ritz, Manchester – 2nd March / Oran Mor, Glasgow – 4th March
Website:
www.gotye.com /
http://soundcloud.com/gotye /
WHAT THE PAPERS SAY
'In his native Australia, Gotye is an award-winning, chart-topping star. By early next year he could be just as big in Britain.' – The Times
‘Great video, powerful lyrics and a stunning voice.’ - Q
'a beautiful duet with an impressive video' – NME
‘this breathtaking tale of heartache is now starting to turn heads internationally.’ – Music Week
'if you like your technical brilliance mixed with some heartfelt vocals, you need Gotye in your life.' – Loud & Quiet
‘Somebody That I Used To Know is an impassioned piece of songwriting… could well be the song that finally helps Gotye receive the international acclaim he deserves.’ – Record of the Day
‘Gotye's exemplary pop sense may be the big revelation of Making Mirrors, yet it's his arty restlessness that will continue to keep him interesting’ - Pitchfork
