Having already topped the charts in 4 countries and with an excess of 21 million hits and counting on YouTube, Gotye will release the much anticipated single ‘Somebody That I Used To Know’ in the UK on 6th February via Communion / Island Records.
2012 looks set to be a very exciting year for hotly tipped Belgium born Melbourne based multi-instrumentalist and producer, Gotye. Following two sold out London shows in October, his album launch show at Wiltons Music Hall has sold out and his newly announced show at Shepherd’s Bush Empire looks set to do the same, proving that the current swell of worldwide support has its sights set firmly on the UK.
Upon its online release in June the video for the stunning track Somebody That I Used To Know triggered an overwhelming worldwide response. Just three weeks after Gotye posted it on YouTube the song had received nearly four million hits (this number has now exceeded 21 million, averaging more than 1 million hits a week), topped the charts in 4 countries (Australia, Holland, Belgium and New Zealand with Germany looking set to follow suit next weekend) and made it to No.1 on the Hype Machine Twitter chart. Hear it once and you’ll be haunted by it for weeks. It will be released in the UK on 6th February, a week ahead of the album Making Mirrors.
Ask Gotye about Making Mirrors and he’ll speak not of songs, but of sounds. He’ll describe the various valves through which strings and choirs cycle on his Lowrey Cotillion, a vintage organ bought for 100 bucks in a second-hand shop that features on the record. Or how he constructed a bassline by sampling the Winton Musical Fence, an unlikely instrument he discovered in the outback of Queensland, Australia, comprised of five large metal strings attached to wooden fence posts and a resonant chamber.
Listen to Making Mirrors and you’ll be drawn in by the details, transported to a world where every moment matters. This is pop at its most precise, but also electronic music at its most emotional. The record delves into dub, Detroit-era Motown soul, stadium-size politipop, synth-folk and world music on glorious, sprawling, huge-hearted songs.
Gotye launched Making Mirrors in Australia – where he has just picked up 6 ARIA Awards - in August with two visually explosive gigs at Sydney Opera House and a full Australian tour - all of which were sold out. He will return to the UK for an intimate album launch show at Wiltons Music Hall on 13th February 2012.
Confirmed 2012 dates: Wiltons Music Hall on 13th February – SOLD OUT Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London – 29th February Ritz, Manchester – 2nd March / Oran Mor, Glasgow – 4th March
