POWDERFINGER ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM ‘UNRELEASED’, COMING NOVEMBER 27
POWDERFINGER ANNOUNCE RELEASE OF FIRST NEW ALBUM IN A DECADE
Following the release of a 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of their seminal album Odyssey Number Five, available now, Powderfinger today unveil their highly anticipated new album ‘Unreleased’, their first new album in a decade.
‘Unreleased’ comprises a collection of previously unheard and unreleased tracks recorded at the peak of the bands’career and spans the years 1998 – 2010. Located on various hard drives and tapes hidden in the depths of the bands archives, they discovered around 50 unreleased songs whilst compiling the 20th anniversary deluxe edition of ‘Odyssey Number Five’. The band have selected what they feel could be some of their best shelved material for ‘Unreleased’ in 10 songs which for one reason or another just didn’t make an album cut or didn’t suit the purposes of what they were doing at the time.
“We were always careful to keep our albums to around about vinyl length. While we searched for material from the ON5 writing and recording period we kept uncovering long forgotten tunes that were unmixed, unfinished or unsuitable for the purposes of the records we made. We narrowed it down to about 15 and then down to a final 10. It brought back lots of memories and stories and made it clear how high we had set the bar with regard to the quality of songs we released.”
The album comes off the back of recent single ‘Day By Day’, which was recorded during sessions for the band’s fifth album, Vulture Street (2003).
“Day by Day was never completed until we opened the archives and went sniffing around for tracks that had never been released,” says vocalist Bernard Fanning, “we never even really had a rough mix of it as we had obviously decided at the time that it didn’t quite fit with the rest of the songs on that album. Looking back now, I’m not sure why and I’m actually amazed we didn’t find a place for it on the record. Once we found it, we had Nick Didia remix it and get it into shape”.
The accompanying video for the track is a nostalgic look at Powderfinger’s incredible 20+ year career, with insights into backstage moments, cameos from long time crew and snapshots from some of their favourite performances.
Powderfinger’s previous seven studio albums produced songs that have become ingrained in the Australian psyche. Tracks like My Happiness, These Days, Sunsets, On My Mind, Burn Your Name and Pick You Up became the soundtrack for a generation.
The band’s trophy cabinet holds five number 1 albums, 18 ARIA Awards and 3 APRA Awards to name a few. They’ve appeared in triple j’s Hottest 100 an incredible 22 times including two #1 spots for These Days (1999) and My Happiness (2000).
With millions of album sales in Australia alone, Powderfinger continue to captivate millions of listeners every month across streaming services and radio.
In April 2010, Powderfinger announced they were calling it a day. The band embarked on their Sunsets Farewell Tour, playing to over 300 000 people along the way, and on 13 November 2010 they played their last gig. That is, until May this year when they picked up their instruments to present a one-off streamed gig ‘One Night Lonely’. The performance had the simple aim of bringing a smile to as many faces as possible in these uncertain times. The charity performance raised over half a million dollars for Beyond Blue and Support Act. It was simultaneously viewed by over 90,000 people on its premiere and has since been viewed over 810,000 times.
On 4 September 2020, the band released a 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition of Odyssey Number Five, celebrating the album that propelled Powderfinger into the stratosphere.
‘Unreleased’ follows ‘Day By Day’ and this anniversary release. Fans can pre-order the album here, and listen to ‘Day By Day’ here.