After hinting at a 2019 return with last November's "Still Life" single, Toronto trio Absolutely Free have shared a new collaboration with U.S. Girls' Meg Remy alongside details for a new EP.
In an email to The Fader, Absolutely Free's Matt King expanded on the relationship between the song's lyrics and his group's collaboration with Remy:
Currency's lyrics consider how social frameworks like gender performance are built. As a band, we are learning to acknowledge the privilege and power we personally gain from systems such as patriarchy, and are feeling conflicted about how to best use this social capital. We have noticed a lot of white male reactions to this era of intersectional sensitivity have been to stay out of the conversation completely, but this results in music that tends to just operate as "music", and that's sort of it. We have never been a band who is interested in just making "music", but also understand that social currency, built solely on statements of solidarity, become platitudes without meaningful action behind them. It's a difficult thing to navigate.
We know that any space we take up means another band doesn't get to inhabit that space. This is one of the reasons we have taken so long to release new music; because we want to make sure we use whatever bandwidth we are given to share something that is deeply considered and worth paying attention to. Also, we've been learning to work more collaboratively, to share the space that we do occupy with others. We were inspired by the Talking Heads album, Remain In Light, when we wrote this record and in this song particularly, we wanted to subvert their reference to the "front-man with female back-up singers" trope. We are so grateful to Meg from U.S. Girls for her contribution and unwavering support for this project, as we are so inspired by her work and ethics.
An extended mix of "Currency" will appear on the band's Geneva Freeport EP, set for release June 20 through Idée Fixe. Mixed by Sandro Perri, you can find the effort's tracklisting below, and can pre-order it here.
Geneva Freeport EP:
1. Geneva Freeport
2. Currency (ft. U.S. Girls) [Extended Mix]
3. The Endless Scroll (ft. Carl Didur)
Tour dates:
05/09 Toronto ON - The Garrison - CMW *
05/22-24 St. John, NL - Lawnya Vawnya
06/14 Guelph, ON - Ebar
07/06 Quebec, QC - Meduse - Festival OFF
07/27 Durham ON - Crystal Lake Sound
* with Sauna, Living Hour, Art d'Ecco
In an email to The Fader, Absolutely Free's Matt King expanded on the relationship between the song's lyrics and his group's collaboration with Remy:
Currency's lyrics consider how social frameworks like gender performance are built. As a band, we are learning to acknowledge the privilege and power we personally gain from systems such as patriarchy, and are feeling conflicted about how to best use this social capital. We have noticed a lot of white male reactions to this era of intersectional sensitivity have been to stay out of the conversation completely, but this results in music that tends to just operate as "music", and that's sort of it. We have never been a band who is interested in just making "music", but also understand that social currency, built solely on statements of solidarity, become platitudes without meaningful action behind them. It's a difficult thing to navigate.
We know that any space we take up means another band doesn't get to inhabit that space. This is one of the reasons we have taken so long to release new music; because we want to make sure we use whatever bandwidth we are given to share something that is deeply considered and worth paying attention to. Also, we've been learning to work more collaboratively, to share the space that we do occupy with others. We were inspired by the Talking Heads album, Remain In Light, when we wrote this record and in this song particularly, we wanted to subvert their reference to the "front-man with female back-up singers" trope. We are so grateful to Meg from U.S. Girls for her contribution and unwavering support for this project, as we are so inspired by her work and ethics.
An extended mix of "Currency" will appear on the band's Geneva Freeport EP, set for release June 20 through Idée Fixe. Mixed by Sandro Perri, you can find the effort's tracklisting below, and can pre-order it here.
Geneva Freeport EP:
1. Geneva Freeport
2. Currency (ft. U.S. Girls) [Extended Mix]
3. The Endless Scroll (ft. Carl Didur)
Tour dates:
05/09 Toronto ON - The Garrison - CMW *
05/22-24 St. John, NL - Lawnya Vawnya
06/14 Guelph, ON - Ebar
07/06 Quebec, QC - Meduse - Festival OFF
07/27 Durham ON - Crystal Lake Sound
* with Sauna, Living Hour, Art d'Ecco
