What So Not Advance Album Service Landing From Promo Jukebox
Continuing his dream run towards the release of his sophomore album next month, Australian producer and purveyor of hypnotic tunes What So Not returns today with a glistening and upbeat new single, lining up features from Louis The Child, Captain Cuts and JRM for the breezy dancefloor bliss that is On Air. Swiftly following on from the smash single As One featuring Herizen which dropped last month, On Air is yet another beaming triumph ahead of What So Not’s brand new album Anomaly which will officially drop on Friday September 16. And What So Not has announced an epic album pre-save offer – this week letting fans know he’ll fly anywhere in the world to play a set at a house party, and everyone who pre-saves the album is eligible to win.
With immersive soundscapes, timber percussion and affable electronica woven throughout, On Air buoys and bubbles alongside festival-ready vibes. Equally fusing playful synths, billowing grooves and stomping chorus to transport you to a neon cloudland, On Air boasts razor-sharp production and a heart-stopping drop that’ll leave you yearning for summer nights spent on the dancefloor without a care in the world. As with previous singles emerging from What So Not, aka Chris Emerson’s, upcoming second full-length album Anomaly, On Air also flexes a sweltering array of features, with electronic duo Louis The Child, remix and production duo Captain Cuts and JRM levelling up this buoyant sonic gem to spectacular new heights. Speaking of the affable track and stepping effortlessly outside the norm, Chris shares, “The easiest way to describe On Air is: it’s like Disney, it’s very unpretentious, very fun and channelling those dancing ‘in the sky’ kinda moments. I don’t usually write this happy, bubbly upbeat stuff, it’s always brooding and moody, but this time it felt so authentic – it felt inner childlike, so I went with it”.
While entering new sonic territory for Chris, the overall What So Not charm still permeates On Air with the track organically weaving into the overarching narrative of the upcoming album Anomaly alongside a fortuitous late-night writing session, a plastic kid’s saxophone and some inspiration from the 2010 DreamWorks animated movie How to Train Your Dragon, as Chris reveals, “It’s quite an innocent song and in the storyline of the album the song actually became the separation between a sheltered upbringing and then going and taking on a pretty chaotic and exciting world for the first time, which is a thing you see in an animated movie How To Train Your Dragon. The song for me is channelling that energy. When we wrote, it was JRM’s birthday at 4am in L.A. The funniest thing about this one, the main riff is like a plastic toy saxophone and it was actually a challenge, we tried to find the most stupid thing in the room and challenged each other to try and write a riff or an iconic thing, and my friend picked up this plastic toy saxophone – a kid’s toy which is how this feeling came about and I was like “play that and I’ll turn it into a beat”. And I did and that’s the start of the song”.
Marking the fifth single unveiled ahead of Anomaly’s final release, On Air is a fluid, floating and flawless peek further beyond the curtain as to what Chris has in store on his follow up to the 2018 debut album Not All the Beautiful Things. From the emotive and humid moments of its title track, featuring AY AY, to the Underworld-esque slice of indie-electronica that is The Change, featuring DMA’s, the sparse charm of the hip hop-soaked Messin’ Me Up, featuring EVAN GIIA and glitching bangers like Black Shallow, featuring Enschway, Anomaly equally captures the permeating artistry of What So Not while barrelling Chris into a staggering new era, dominantly centred around his own internal and literal explorations, as Chris shares, “Making Anomaly was an internal deep dive. I sing on the opening track, belted even. I didn’t know I could do that! It just came out of me one day and I thought: ‘woah, OK…this is the start of the next era’. For that song in particular, I’d been thinking about the whole thing with Keith Flint after I’d just missed a planned catch up with The Prodigy on their Australian tour. As well as that, I was also listening to Lil Peep and Underworld. It’s such a strange combo of things, but you can hear it all in there! Many of the songs are from that same period: driving round Europe in a rental, cranking playlists, jumping in the studio with Noisia, Jammer, Explore, Petit Biscuit, San Holo, or going to a jazz club in Paris at 3am with Anderson Paak & The Free Nationals. I was traveling the world just for fun and recording along the way”.
For more than a decade, Chris, operating as What So Not, has honed his thrilling trademark blend of fresh electronica and tantalising innovation, touring the globe with his unforgettable live extravaganzas and gracing multiple high-profile festival stages including Coachella, Lollapalooza and Ultra Music Festival. With his 2018 debut album Not All The Beautiful Things amassing 57+ million streams worldwide, hitting #8 on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic albums and also snagging a Feature Album on triple j, more recent What So Not material has equally wowed and delighted, while also setting the stage alight for Anomaly’s long-awaited release in September. Previous What So Not single Mr Regular featuring Oliver Tree and Killer Mike has already amassed over 2 million streams, while more recently As One featuring Herizen surpassed 130k streams in just over a week. One of the most exciting creatives in his field and indeed in the industry at large, What So Not will have you walking on air and floating in pure dance, house and trap-tastic bliss with this latest track; a perfect place to visit before witnessing Anomaly in full in a few short weeks.
On Air feat. Louis The Child, Captain Cuts and JRM is out today, Friday August 19.
Anomaly is set for release on Friday September 16 and available to presave now.
Download press shot HERE
Download single artwork HERE
Download album artwork HERE
ANOMALY TRACKLIST
1. Alive
2. Anomaly (Feat. AY AY)
3. Mr Regular (Feat. Oliver Tree & Killer Mike)
4. The Change (Feat. DMA’S)
5. Halifax (Feat. Phi11a, Zoid Land & Tek Genesis)
6. On Air (Feat. Louis The Child, Captain Cuts & JRM)
7. Messin’ Me Up (Feat. EVAN GIIA)
8. Bad Piano (Feat. Body Ocean & Lucy Lucy)
9. Mercy (2022 Edit) (Feat. MØ)
10. Black Shallow (Feat. Enschway)
11. As One (Feat. Herizen)
