Foreign/National's debut single lifted from their forthcoming EP scheduled for release in 2014. Mixed by Jarrad Brown & mastered at Crystal Studios.

Buy Now

Paris

Foreign/National's second single lifted from their forthcoming EP scheduled for release April 2014. Mixed by Jarrad Brown & mastered at Crystal Studios.

All Honesty

Tracked by Foreign/National & Hayden Calnin, mixed by Jarrad Brown & mastered by Andrei Eremin @ Jack the Bear.

Life Tourist

Hostage Taker

We were asked to do a cover for RRR's 2014 Radiothon. We covered fellow Melbournian's The Harpoons with their wonderful track 'Unforgettable'. We hope you like it.

Subscribe to RRR: http://www.rrr.org.au/radiothon/

Unforgettable (The Harpoons Cover)

Recorded by Foreign/National
Mixed By Joe Walker
Mastered by Andrei Eremin
Artwork by Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Always Blue

Foreign/National's latest single 'The Hedonist' released through Downtime. Tracked by Foreign/National, mixed by Joey Walker (King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard) and mastered by Andrei 'Ony' Eremin. Artwork by Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com ).

The Hedonist

As their third release for the year, Pacific Cruise stands as a bold statement of intention from prolific Melbourne outfit Foreign/National; another leap forward for a collective never content with stasis.  

A continuation of their production partnership with Joey Walker (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard), Pacific Cruise was born on a glacial winter night, raised in sweaty rehearsal rooms and quickly matured as a staple of the band’s live show - a favourite for audiences throughout the country. 

While retaining their usual spread of crunching, saturated instrumentation, the band again nod lovingly toward slow-burning Motown classics in Pacific Cruise’s skittering and bullish rhythm section.  

Though a healthy dose of fatalism remains present in the single’s lyrics, it does not - by any means - keep the listener at arm’s length. Each phrase carries a careful build-and-release of harmonic tension. Lapping gently over an arrangement spacious by the band’s own standards, the feeling is intimate and resolute. 

From its opening bars, Pacific Cruise whispers with casual menace. By the time those whispers become cries, the saxophone solo hits its peak and confusion gives way for clarity, it’s impossible to turn back. Either you’re right about this, or wrong about everything. 

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Pacific Cruise

After beginning 2015 with the release of three acclaimed singles, Melbourne pop quintet Foreign/National stepped off the stage and retreated to the serenity of their home-base: the Mornington Peninsula.

Shacking up in a small, sunburnt cabin with long-time producer and collaborator Joey Walker (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard), the band worked exhaustively on new material. Now, after nine months and countless trips between the city and coast, Foreign/National triumphantly return with 'Tristesse': the first taste of their thrilling debut album.

'Tristesse' is a lovesick postcard from the end of an Australian summer. Recalling the flutters and failures of a long-distance fling, the single delivers an intoxicating slice of Foreign/National's self-described "sad disco" style.

Trading in their usual Krautrock pulse for something more at home in the club, the band conjure warped and abrupt guitar stabs, sweeping strings and wandering bass. It's less Michael Rother, more Nile Rodgers.

Having already won fans at NME, The Guardian, Line of Best Fit, Earmilk, DIY, The 405, KCRW and Triple J, Foreign/National ready their full-length debut for eager ears.

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Tristesse

Today, Melbourne outfit FOREIGN/NATIONAL share​ TOO SENTIMENTAL: another beautiful slice of warped pop lifted from their upcoming debut LP.

Where Tristesse — the band’s previous single — was driven by punchdrunk optimism, Too Sentimental wakes up sheepish and hungover, all too aware of nostalgia’s toxicity. Where Tristesse blushes, Too Sentimental winces.

Demoed in a style reminiscent of Italian psych duo Dumbo Gets Mad, Too Sentimental bloomed into something much bolder during the recording process with the band’s longtime producer, Joey Walker (King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard).

The final product artfully oscillates between the band’s usual lo-fi, oversaturated sound and a wider, cleaner aesthetic. “We started by trying to mirror Deerhunter’s soaring guitar sounds and eventually landed on something closer to Yes’s Owner of a Lonely Heart played on shittier gear,” the band comment.

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Too Sentimental

'Dépaysement' is the sound of being somewhere far, far away from home. It hums with the shock of being suddenly alone—in a place where no one cares who you are or what you’re doing.

On their debut album, Melbourne band Foreign/National sound enlivened. Having worked tirelessly on a string of acclaimed singles since the release of their self-titled EP in 2014, the band have embraced the longer format with open arms and a healthy dose of ambition.

From the opening bars of its titular track to the haunting death-rattle of ‘22’, the album’s closer, the band weave their way through a sprawling narrative with fresh lucidity.

“I swear I used to be a confident man. What happened to the confident man?” asks frontman Mark Gage on ‘Too Sentimental’, the LP’s first single, sifting through a distant memory—or perhaps a fading fantasy— with uncompromising honesty.

On ‘Mombasa’, we hear cues from Brian Wilson and Kamuran Akkor and as always, the sound of bassist Sean Gage and drummer Rhys Grunden sticking together like liquid nails, hurling the record forward with impossibly tight rhythmic interplay.

On keys, Sam Stearne brings palpable tension to ‘Ballerina’, and imbues ‘Nicole Warren’ with a gorgeous sense of weightlessness. Tom Stephenson, similarly omnipresent and shapeshifting, reaches dizzying heights of slacker ecstasy on ‘Sunny Afternoon’ and ‘Never Really’.

More than anything, however, ‘Dèpaysement’ shines as a product of undeniable chemistry and collective devotion. This is an album of songs that have lived many lives and taken many forms, but now feel strangely familiar and at home together.

Foreign/National’s debut LP, Dépaysement, will be released February 3 through DOWNTIME.

ARTWORK: Alex Jennings ( www.ajayjennings.com )

Mombasa

Dépaysement

Ballerina

Kadıköy

Nicole Warren

Never Really

Sunny Afternoon

Mr Unlucky

Heat

Diamond Mine

Recorded/Engineered by Casey Hartnett
Mixed by Jarvis Taveniere
Mastered by Andrei Eremin
Photo by Ollie Hodgkins

Balmy Evening

The Garden

Love Control

Let It Be What It Is

Circle Back

Honest Man

Valley Of Time

Melbourne, AU

Management/Booking:
Mark Gage
foreign.national.band@gmail.com

PR:
Viv Mellish
viv@gyrostream.com

Foreign/National

Popular tracks