INDEPENDENT NEWS

The Broken Heartbreakers Sign To Nadia Reid’s Label, Release Single ‘We’re All Looking Up’

Published: Fri 15 Oct 2021 07:57 AM
Today, Ōtepoti indie-folk band The Broken Heartbreakers release their new single We’re All Looking Up, the first from the band’s upcoming fifth studio record ‘Imagine If We Could Just Keep Driving’, which will be released on Nadia Reid’s record label Slow Time Records. The track is an homage to community, and more specifically, to the mountain under which the Heartbreaker band call home.
The Broken Heartbreakers are led by songwriters Rachel Bailey and John Guy Howell, who began their music journey together in 2002. With the passing of nearly 20 years, hundreds of gigs, four studio albums, multiple continents and a changing cast of backing band members, The Broken Heartbreakers sound has continued evolving.
We’re All Looking Up is a deliberate nod to the power pop genre, with chiming twin guitars, layered vocals and just enough harmonic twist and turns to keep listeners on their toes. “Imagine a Guided by Voices martini mixed with Dunedin’s Look Blue Go Purple - shaken not stirred.” The song is centred around North East Valley where the band all reside in Ōtepoti Dunedin and the diverse community that lives there under the protection of Kapukataumahaka (Mt Cargill).
Bailey says she was “influenced by the shared ‘alone, together’ experience of the Covid-19 lock downs. We’re all Looking Up celebrates the resilience of this community and the redemptive power of Ōtepoti’s magnificent landscapes.” “As we face the challenges in this pandemic world, the song emphasises what unites us and asks us to take comfort in the fact that ‘We’re all looking up at the same mountain’”.
The single was recorded at Te Korokoro o te Tūī, the new recording studio at the University of Otago School of Performing Arts by studio manager Stephen Stedman.
The band are also embarking on a tour to celebrate the songs release. Touring now as a 5-piece band, Bailey and Howell are joined by the talents of Craig Monk (Cloudboy, Dunedin Symphony Orchestra) on viola and guitar, Angus McBryde (asta rangu) on bass guitar and Paul McLennan-Kissel (Julian Temple Band, Entire Alphabet) on drums. With this unyielding line-up, the band joined Nadia Reid and her band for her national opera house tour in May 2021.
This time, The Broken Heartbreakers will carve their own path across the country, playing some very special venues with equally special guests along the way.
We’re All Looking Up is available to download and stream today. Tour tickets available now from Under the Radar.
THE BROKEN HEARTBREAKERS
‘WE’RE ALL LOOKING UP’ NZ TOUR DATES
Friday 15th October
Port Chalmers - Pioneer Hall
Sunday 31st October
North East Valley - Nga Maara Hall - Matinee All Ages show
Friday 19th November
Oamaru - Grainstore Gallery
Saturday 20th November
Oamaru - Heartbreakers High Tea - Duo matinee performance
Wellington, Auckland and Waiheke shows postponed.
Tickets on sale now at – undertheradar.co.nz

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