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The Auckland dream pop band share the final single from their long-awaited debut album ‘Aseurai’, arriving next month
Frances Carter
Phoebe Rings have released “Fading Star”, the final single from their long-awaited debut album Aseurai.
Conceptualised by drummer and producer Alex Freer, the track was inspired by seeing artists he admires play to small crowds. “’Fading Star’ was built upon harmony inspired by city pop and disco jazz,” Freer shares. “I wanted the verses to have more of a Talking Heads/Orange Juice rudimentary groove while the choruses have twinkly, dreamy layers with string synth and warbly guitar. The bridge allows a moment of full disco excess with percussion, clavinet synth, and a tube screamer guitar solo.”
“Fading Star” follows recent singles “Get Up” , “Drifting” and the albums title track “Aseurai”, all set to appear on the Tāmaki Makaurau dream-pop band’s debut LP.
Aseurai marks the first time the entire band – Locke, Simeon Kavanagh-Vincent (guitar/synth), Alex Freer (drums/production), and band leader Crystal Choi (a former jazz school student, check out her INTROS episode here) – contributed to the songwriting. Choi says, “I feel more precious about this LP because it includes everyone’s gems. The broth is richer with more cooks in the kitchen, and the brewing of textures creates a distinct ‘Phoebe Rings’ sound.”
The album blends disco, city-pop, and dream-pop, with Aseurai translating to “around you in the atmosphere, hard to reach, fading away.” Choi explains, “It’s a poetic expression you wouldn’t use in normal conversation, but I like that.”
Aseurai will be released on June 6th via Carpark Records, who reissued their 2021 self-titled EP late last year.
Phoebe Rings impressed at Rolling Stone House at SXSW Sydney before embarking on a national tour in Aotearoa.
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Ahead of their Rolling Stone House performance, Choi had lots of praise for her bandmates.
“[…] what I feel particularly lucky about this band is that we’re all songwriters. I think our playing reflects that: I can hear that everyone thinks about how to make the whole song sound great rather than their own playing, whether it’s guitar tone, bassline, drum fills, or synth sounds,” she told us. “We also realised that our taste matches really well and what each one brings to the band makes the band into something we like better and better.”
Phoebe Rings’ “Fading Star” is out now. Aseurai is out June 6th via Carpark Records (pre-order here).
In This Article: Phoebe Rings
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