Fast Romantics have built a reputation as tenacious musical adventurers, working their way up the mountain of classic pop songwriting, eager to carve out a piece of it for themselves. “Maybe it stacks the cards against us, but I’ve learned to only finish songs that come straight from the pit of the gut. It’s the only way I’m gonna sleep at night. You know, that way when a song connects with people, it feels like we earned it.”
Today, the Toronto-based duo of Matthew Angus and Kirty – partners on and off stage, announce their new album, Happiness + Euphoria, is set for release on September 27.
These sprawling ten new songs are masterfully crafted and equally and intentionally split into two distinct sides. Side “Euphoria,” was mixed by Los Angeles-based producer Dave Schiffman (The Killers, Haim) and is busting with jubilant pop anthems, as electric as ever and teeming with a renewed sense of self and purpose. Side “Happiness” was mixed by Marcus Paquin (The National, Arcade Fire) and is a lush, beautiful, lyrical collection of songs stirring up Angus’ most personal explorations to date.
The duo released the “Euphoria” video earlier this week – an official visual pairing to the recently released radio single, and they follow today with the flip side of the coin with the “Happiness” video, bringing a full circle view to insidious implications, and what might be lurking behind the scenes in any euphoric comedown.
“The decision to let the album have this polarity, with two contrasting sides… it was more a reaction to what we realized these songs were about,” said Angus. “I think there are little slices of euphoria in every ideation of happiness, and little slivers of happiness in every euphoric experience. But the two emotions almost oppose each other at times, and then they kind of blur together. A lot of this album is just me trying to figure out what the two words even mean. Like so many of us,I ’m always
searching for meaning in all of the dumbest places… in careers, in pill bottles, in bedrooms, in wallets, in mirrors. I think that search over the last five years ended up defining these ten songs, and that’s why we picked them.”
The album was produced by Angus, but he and Kirty also undertook a unique approach to making a record. Later in the process, they connected with three close creative confidants to form what Angus called their “song senate” to bring additional production. It consisted of longtime collaborator Marcus Paquin, as well as two other key collaborators: their previous producer Gus Van Go (Metric, The Stills, Arkells), and the frontman/producer of celebrated band The Dears, Murray Lightburn. “It was important to me that we brought in friends we trusted who could call bullshit on those moments when I was getting too indulgent or stuck,” Angus said, adding sheepishly, “I’ll admit that happens quite often. Those three saved my ass.” Nick McKinlay and Jeffrey Lewis — longtime members of the band — also played key roles in defining the arrangements.
Fast Romantic’s breakthrough single “Julia” was hailed by NPR as “triumphant” and CBC Q described their LP American Love as “a revelation of a record.” The band found Top 20 commercial radio success in Canada with “Why We Fight,” and earned multiple #1 singles on CBC music’s national chart. Winners of SOCAN’s songwriting prize, “Best Pop Group” at the Sirius XM Indies, and short-listed for Reeperbahn Festival’s “Anchor Award” in Germany, as well as the Prism Prize in Canada. Performing as anywhere from a 5-piece to a 9-piece band, they have toured nationally and internationally over a dozen times.
All told, Fast Romantics have been waiting to release their sparkling new LP for five long years. They will be setting out on the road in support of Happiness + Euphoria with dates and more album information and singles to be shared soon.
HAPPINESS + EUPHORIA Track List:
SIDE “EUPHORIA”
- Outta Love
- Euphoria
- Fuck Yourself
- Born in Space
- Smoke + Lightning
SIDE “HAPPINESS”
- Hold On, Let It Go
- Happiness
- Sea of Electrons
- What’s in a Name?
- Mexico
