Australia’s Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever release a new track/video, “Tidal River,” from their forthcoming album, Endless Rooms, out May 6th on Sub Pop. Rolling Blackouts C.F. have joined an Australian lineage of bands bold enough to marry the country’s evocative landscapes with the urban romance, passions and politics of its characters. Today’s propulsive “Tidal River,” is settled in this vein, as it invokes the specter of Australia as the “lucky country” – and the self-entitlement and ignorance it inspires: “Jetski over the pale reef / chase the pill for some relief / as long as you don’t point out / what’s underneath your feet.” The accompanying video was directed by frequent collaborator Nick Mckk and weaves landscape footage with clips of the band playing. 

“Tidal River is a little snapshot of living in a place at a time when it feels like there is no-one at the wheel. If there were a complacency Olympics, Australia would win gold by a mile. In the ‘lucky country’, the luckiest ones jealously guard their fortune, as if it will disappear if they share it around. There is so much potential to do better, but it sometimes seems like progress is two steps forward, two steps back. Tidal River is located in what Europeans named Wilsons Promontory, where the river meets the ocean. It has great significance for the Gunai/Kurnai and Boonwurrung peoples, who call it Yiruk and Wamoon respectively. No matter the struggles and politics that go on, the river keeps churning into the sea.

WATCH ROLLING BLACK COASTAL FEVER’S VIDEO FOR “TIDAL RIVER”

Since releasing their debut EP Talk Tight in 2015, the Melbourne-based five-piece have been chewing through stages across the world at a frightening clip. Early 2020 saw them gearing up once again – putting the finishing touches on second album, Sideways to New Italy, and prepping for another international tour. Instead they were caught in the longest Covid-related lockdown in the world. “All our touring was amazing,” says Tom Russo, who along with Fran Keaney and Joe White make up the band’s trio of guitar-playing, singer/songwriters, rounded out by bassist Joe Russo and drummer Marcel Tussie. “It’s also sensory overload and a bit chaotic. So it went from that to the complete opposite – sensory deprivation. We were basically in a bubble.”

With no shows to support Sideways to New Italy possible, the band had little to do but sit at home. “I was spending all my weekends building stuff on Garageband,” says Keaney. “Writing without having any sense anybody would listen to it.” Soon experiments wandered: a synth line here, a disco vamp there. Files were traded – weird ideas without parameters included. Without realizing it, the group’s signature sound of rushing acoustic guitar, motorik drums and sparkling pop hooks was being subtly shifted into a new era. When lockdown momentarily lifted at the end of 2020, the band and long-time engineer Matt “Chow” Duffy legged it to “The Basin” – a lakeside, mud-brick house in regional Victoria the Russo extended family built in the ‘70s. With the building’s high-ceilings and rural setting encouraging a huge live sound, the reunited members spent two weeks figuring out what they had. 

Back in Melbourne the band set about finishing the record on their own, working through months of lockdown restrictions, trial and error and the isolation of a post-pandemic world. “A lot of my ideas came from endlessly walking around the same streets of West Brunswick” says Russo. “But I was also kind of liberated by that - my mind wandered into places it wouldn’t otherwise have. Then when we finally got to recording in the country, the ambience seeped in. We ended up including field recordings of fire, rain and bird sounds. Then we finished it ourselves back in our Brunswick practice space.” 

The result is Endless Rooms, the band’s most cinematic, stylistically diverse and ambitious album yet. Self-produced by the band with Matt Duffy, and mixed by Scott Horscroft (DMA’S, Silverchair, The Presets), Endless Rooms pulls back the curtain on what Rolling Blackouts C.F. can achieve, revealing a wider screen, deeper narrative currents, more confident shades, and an excitement at letting their tumbling brand of ragged, nervy pop wander and breathe. 

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR “THE WAY IT SHATTERS”

PRE-ORDER ENDLESS ROOMS

ROLLING BLACKOUTS C.F. TOUR DATES

Wed. Feb. 9 - Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre

Thu. Feb. 10 - Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre - SOLD OUT

Thu. Feb. 17 - Eltham, AU @ Eltham Hotel

Fri. Feb. 18 - Brisbane, AU @ The Tivoli

Sat. Feb. 19 - Canberra, AU @ Kambri - ANU

Fri. Feb. 25 - Melbourne, AU @ The Forum

Thu. Mar. 3 - Adelaide, AU @ The Gov

Fri. Mar. 4 - Hobart, AU @ Altar

Fri. Mar. 18 - Fremantle WA @ AU @ Freo Social

Fri. May 20 - Madrid, ES @ Tomavistas

Sun. May 22 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 *

Mon. May 23 - Norwich, UK @ Waterfront *

Tue. May 24 - Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy *

Wed. May 25 - Bristol, UK @ Motion *

Thu. May 26 - Cardiff, UK @ Tramshed *

Sat. May 28 - Northampton, UK @ Roadmender *

Sun. May 29 - Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute *

Mon. May 30 - Leeds, UK @ Leeds Irish Centre *

Tue. May 31 - Manchester, UK @ O2 Ritz *

Thu. Jun. 2 - London, UK @ O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire *

Fri. Jun. 3 - Sheffield, UK @ The Foundry *

Sat. Jun. 4 - Glasgow, UK @ Queen Margaret Union *

Sun. Jun. 5 - Edinburgh, UK @ The Liquid Room *

Mon. Jun. 6 - Newcastle upon Tyne, UK @ Boiler Shop *

Wed. Jun. 8 - Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street *

Fri. Jun. 10 - Parque Da Cidade, BR @ Primavera Porto

Sat. Jun. 11 - Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound

Sun. Jun. 12 - Mannheim, DE @ Maifield Derby

Mon. Jun. 13 - Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia *

Wed. Jun. 15 - Bergen, NO @ Bergenfest

Thu. Jun. 16 - Oslo, NO @ John Dee *

Fri. Jun. 17 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset *

Sun. Jun. 19 - Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie *

Tue. Jun. 21 - Brussels, BE @ Botanique Orangerie *

Wed. Jun. 22 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje *

Thu. Jun. 23 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso *

Fri. Jul. 22 - North Byron Parklands, AU @ Splendour In The Grass

Wed. Jul. 27 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club

Mon. Aug. 1 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern

Tue. Aug. 2 - Montréal, QC @ L’Escogriffe Bar

Wed. Aug. 3 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair

Sat. Aug. 6 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg

Sun. Aug. 7 - Philadelphia, PA @ Underground Arts

Mon. Aug. 8 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat

Wed. Aug. 10 - Atlanta, GA @ Terminal west

Fri. Aug. 12 - Austin, TX @ Empire

Sat. Aug. 13 - Fort Worth, TX @ Tulips

Mon. Aug. 15 - Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater

Tue. Aug. 16 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge

Thu. Aug. 18 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos

Fri. Aug. 19 - Vancouver, BC @ Hollywood Theatre

Sat. Aug. 20 - Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall

Mon. Aug. 22 - San Francisco, CA @ August Hall

Tue. Aug. 23 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom

* w/ Stella Donnelly supporting