Wave Racer Releases New Single 'What Are We Waiting For?'

Boundary-pushing Australian artist Wave Racer returns with new single 'What Are We Waiting For?', out May 19 on Astral People Recordings.

A study in creative restraint and the latest flex of sonic dexterity, 'What Are We Waiting For?' sees the producer and multi-instrumentalist channel maximalist pop energy into something bold and ultramodern.

The track follows recent single 'Left Behind', a bold, adventurous sonic departure for the Sydney-turned-Melbourne artist, who transformed post-breakup depression into buoyant pick-me-up pop.

Recently performing at Porter Robinson's Secret Sky Festival, Wave Racer is also set to embark on his first Australian headline shows since 2015 this July, performing at The Lansdowne in Sydney (9th) and The Northcote in Melbourne (15th). Tickets for both events will be on sale May 19th @ 4PM PDT here.

"This is the result of a creative exercise involving deliberate restriction," Wave Racer says of 'What Are You Waiting For?'. "A proof of concept to prioritise process over materials. I limited my sound sources so I would have to be more creative with how I used them, kind of like playing a guitar with only two strings instead of six. It forced me to produce the music in a very different way to normal. Every drum sound was crafted from the same tiny piece of non-musical noise.

He continues: "The result is this really dense, noisey, shuffling drum groove that I would never normally come up with. Composing this ended up challenging my own hesitations surrounding my creative process, hence the title. More broadly, it's just a really sonically interesting instrumental track, I guess like a study in sound design process, which was super helpful for me."

Wave Racer burst onto the scene in 2013 with 'Rock U Tonite' and 'Stoopid', singles that quickly became viral hits and heralded him as a Future Bass pioneer. He won praise from Skrillex, Porter Robinson and Flume, remixing the latter as well as the likes of Foster The People and Tkay Maidza.

This was followed up with 'Flash Drive', his 2015 EP which debuted at #15 on the US Billboard Electronic Album Charts and #6 on the US iTunes Electronic Album Charts. He disappeared from the public eye shortly after, citing feelings of isolation and anxiety as the reasons why, before returning with new, emotionally-charged material including 2019's 'AUTO' and collaborative tracks 'Summer Rain' with Kwame, 'This N That' with LunchMoney Lewis and the sonic rush of 'Higher', co-produced by PC Music's Danny L Harle (Charli XCX, Rina Sawayama).

'What Are You Waiting For?' is out now on Astral People Recordings, Wave Racer at his bold and unrivalled best.

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