Today, Reuben and the Dark, the Montreal-based alt-folk outfit helmed by frontman Reuben Bullock, announces a new full-length album titled un | love, set for release on October 25 via Arts & Crafts. As part of the announcement, they share the first new song "faultline" - an intimate portrait of internal struggle and soul-searching, caught between past and future. Reuben explains:
"It feels like a reflective song. Driving on the highway late at night. Looking back over your life. The plans you made. And the way those plans can change. Driving while your passenger sleeps beside you. It's about trust and self-destruction. Feeling power and, simultaneously, a lack of control."
"faultline" was one of the earliest songs written for this album. The demo was recorded during the band's first sessions in Sayulita, Mexico, and like much of the album, finds Reuben writing with greater spontaneity and in closer collaboration with his band. By the time they brought the song back to the icy Montreal winter, "faultline" had evolved into a simple, yet contemplative driving song that bursts with unencumbered emotion.
The chorus, one of Reuben's most memorable lyrics to date, breaks through the verses' tension with rays of clarity. Over an anthemic melody of chiming guitar and scenes of rolling highways, he offers a foretelling admission, singing: "I'm not looking for trouble, but trouble is on its way. It's a faultline on this map of mine."
un | love, is Reuben's most honest and captivating album to date, opening a window into one of the most dramatic times in Bullock's life. The spirited Canadian band's third record - following 2018's Arms of a Dream, and 2014's debut Funeral Sky - tells Reuben's story of endings and hope for the future. The forthcoming collection is a bare, cathartic exploration of life's undeniable crossroads, and the fateful depths that await there.
Produced by Reuben and the Dark with Marcus Paquin (The National, Timber Timbre, Local Natives) and Kevin Drew (of Broken Social Scene), un | love evokes the raw emotion of the songs with anthemic, atmospheric sound. In comparison to the polished songs of Arms of a Dream, the new album shows a drastic turn in Reuben's ease as a writer and freedom as a recording artist. His voice is at once unbridled and fallible. Through the dense imagery of his poetry shines a light shot straight from Reuben's soul in a natural way unlike any time before.
Reuben and the Dark performs at AmericanaFest on September 13 at City Winery Lounge, and will be touring North America and Europe in 2020. The band has shared stages with the likes of Vance Joy, Serena Ryder, The Strumbellas, Boy & Bear, The Paper Kites. Reuben and the Dark's music has been heard in Handmaid's Tale, The Highwaymen, A Million Little Things, American Gods, Grey's Anatomy, Ray Donovanand more.
1. rising
2. faultline
3. welcome home
4. weightlessness
5. breathe
6. underground
7. inner river
8. unlove
9. outrun the rain
10. wisemen
11. dancer
Sep 13 - Nashville TN - City Winery Lounge (AmericanaFest)
Oct 16 - Penticton BC - Dream Cafe
Oct 18 - Banff AB - Banff Centre
Oct 19 - Banff AB - Banff Centre
Oct 22 - Red Deer AB - Bo's
Oct 23 - Jasper AB - Jasper Legion
Oct 25 - Camrose AB - Bailey Theatre
Oct 26 - Moose Jaw SK - Mae Wilson Theatre
Oct 28 - Invermere BC - Pynelogs Cultural Centre
Oct 29 - St. Albert AB - Arden Theatre
Feb 13 - Paris ON - Dominion Telegraph
Feb 25 - Swift Current SK - Lyric Theatre
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