One of the most dynamic rock bands to emerge this millennium, White Denim are set to release their much-anticipated new album 12 on 6th December via Bella Union. The band have shared a live studio performance video for new single ‘Look Good‘ a slick and addictive slice of funk-pop that shimmers with soul, sunshine and flair. It features guest vocalists Tameca Jones and Jessie Payo alongside Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev, Midlake) on flute.
White Denim frontman James Petralli said of the track: “I kept hearing Genius of Love by Tom Tom club while shopping for razors, aspirin and cereal and would find myself thinking. ‘I really enjoy the music of Orange Juice’. The light bulb illuminated fully finally one day in the middle of aisle 9. Don’t forget to brutalize that like button and blurt your comment below.”
It’s always been hard to keep pace with James Petralli’s group, ever since they first exploded out of Austin, Texas in ’08 with hyper-kinetic post-punk bangers like ‘Shake Shake Shake and ‘I Start To Run.’ There was delicious romance in the original trio’s MO, as they hatched intrepid sounds together in a 1940s Spartan trailer parked up in woodland outside the city. Petralli duly raced on through shifting line-ups and kaleidoscopic shades of soul, jazz and Southern rock, always with a feel of in-the-moment authenticity.
The pandemic forced Petralli into a radical rethink of both life and creative process. Going into White Denim’s twelfth LP he relocated his family to Los Angeles, and, barred from the usual workouts “on the floor” under COVID, he plunged deep into the science of assembling tracks digitally, with contributions from players he’d sometimes never even meet. The results on 12 are intricate, hi-tech and forward-facing, yet also somehow still of a piece with the questing ambition, rootsy swing and uplifting way with melody we’ve come to adore about Petralli’s music.
“It was out of the window with even the idea of a band,” says Petralli. “On this record, there are many bands, sometimes in the room with me, sometimes miles away in a remote collaboration, and that process opened up a lot of possibility for me.”
“This is the first White Denim record where I’ve engineered and been the main producer,” he proudly states. “I’ve touched every sound that’s on there.” White Denim have previously shared album tracks ‘Light On‘ and ‘Second Dimension.’
By opening up to different methods of composition and production on ‘12’, James Petralli has succeeded in rejuvenating White Denim, while keeping continuity at its core. Highly anticipated album, 12 will be released on 6th December via Bella Union
White Denim will tour the UK in December ’24 and March 2025. See dates below
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White Denim UK tour:
DECEMBER
5th – Norwich – Waterfront
6th – London – Rough Trade East
7th – Leeds – Leeds University Stylus8th December – Liverpool – Rough Trade
9th – Nottingham – Rough Trade
10th – Bristol – Rough Trade
11th – Brighton – Chalk
2025:
MARCH
2nd – Dublin – The Academy
4th – Glasgow – Queen Margaret Union
5th– Newcastle – Wylam Brewery
6th – Manchester – O2 Ritz
8th– Liverpool – Arts Club
9th – Nottingham – Rescue Rooms
10th – Sheffield – Crookes Social Club
12th – Birmingham – XOYO
13th – Cardiff – Tramshed
14th – London – O2 Forum Kentish Town
16th – Bristol – SWX
(Photo credit: Charlie Wienmann)
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