Cut Copy Gets Atmospheric on New Single

The electronic act Cut Copy recently released “Cold Water,” the second single from its forthcoming sixth studio album, Freeze, Melt, due out August 21. The song features shimmering synths and soft vocals; it starts slow but picks up steam as the percussion picks up and the song’s tempo increases.

“After extensive touring on our last album, ‘Cold Water’ was one of the first new songs to appear,” says frontman Dan Whitford. “I’d moved to Copenhagen and had been listening to a lot more ambient and instrumental electronic music and as a result ‘Cold Water’ felt quite different to songs we’d made in the past. It was less dance, but more atmospheric. Also the subject matter explores love in today’s context, where the climate and fate of the planet are becoming increasingly uncertain.”

Once we’d finished it, it felt like we’d placed a marker in the ground, guiding us in a new musical direction.

American contemporary artist Takeshi Murata made the accompanying music video.

Written during an especially cold Scandinavian winter when Whitford decamped to Copenhagen, Freeze, Melt comes 19 years into the band’s prolific career.

After returning to Australia and being joined by his bandmates at Melbourne’s Park Orchard Studios to “enhance” and complete the recording, Sweden’s Christoffer Berg (Robyn, the Knife), mixed the record in Svenska Grammofonstudion in Gothenburg. The Neve console they used was also used by Bowie/Eno/Visconti to make Lodger, and was also used by Queen, the Rolling Stones, Michael Jackson, AC/DC, Miles Davis, Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin, Stevie Wonder and Jonny Cash.

Born from a bedroom recording project by Whitford, Cut Copy now features guitarist Tim Hoey, drummer Mitchell Scott, and bassist Ben Browning. The group’s unique sound and unencumbered taste have earned praise locally and globally, and 2008’s In Ghost Colours received nominations for the ARIA Awards’ Best Dance/Electronic Album and Album of the Year at the J Awards. In addition, 2011’s Zonoscope was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the Grammy Awards and awarded Best Dance Release at the ARIA Awards.

Freeze, Melt is the band’s first full-length release since 2016’s Haiku From Zero.

Photo credit: Tamar Levine (@tamarlevine)