Brisbane-based alt pop heroes CUB SPORT are delighted to announce their upcoming fourth album LIKE NIRVANA, due out 8 May 2020. Today, the band also share the first single and video from the release, ‘Confessions’. Premiering on triple j’s Good Nights yesterday, the gritty, introspective slow-burn ‘Confessions’ explodes with racing drums, crackling, ASMR-inducing guitars and soaring vocals that are felt as much as they are heard.
Frontman Tim Nelson says of the track: “’Confessions’ feels like an emotional purge. The lyrics flowed in a stream of consciousness and when I listened back, I realised I’d articulated lots of things I’d been avoiding saying out loud. Musically, it’s really different to anything I’ve written and produced before. It’s gritty, soaring and liberating, you feel it as much as you hear it. I’m hoping this song sets other people free the way it has for me.”
Preceding the release of LIKE NIRVANA and in support of their crushing new single, Cub Sport will be revisiting some of the first club venues they ever headlined. This April, the band will play Oxford Art Factory in Sydney, The Zoo in Brisbane and Howler in Melbourne. It’s safe to say this will be fans’ last opportunity to experience Cub Sport’s transcendent live show in this intimate setting. All tour and ticketing information included below.
CUB SPORT TOUR DATES
Saturday April 4 – Oxford Art Factory – Sydney
Saturday April 11 – The Zoo – Brisbane
Saturday April 18 – Howler – Melbourne
Since Nelson came out publicly as gay in 2017, Cub Sport has been a new band, one defined by radical openness and acceptance. Three years on from that momentous period of time, though, Nelson is finally ready to explore the darker side of their psyche that comes alongside living so much of your life in hiding. The release of LIKE NIRVANA also coincides with Nelson’s decision to move forward identifying as ‘free’, positioning themselves outside the gender binary and embracing the use of both neutral pronouns (they/them/their) and male pronouns (he/him/his). “I am free to follow my heart, free to flow with the energies inside and around me, free to form my own self not built by others,” they say. This new freedom is present throughout LIKE NIRVANA.
With over 100 million streams on Spotify and 1.2 million monthly listeners, Cub Sport continue to be a leading force in Australian pop. 2019 proved to be a huge year for the band, with their eponymously titled third album scoring feature album on triple j, number 1 on the Australian Album Chart and a 12 week run in the Independent Album Chart. Cub Sport won worldwide acclaim, with critics and fans alike praising Tim Nelson’s frank and honest songwriting. The year also saw the band head out on a huge European tour, which included a sold out show at London’s Scala, and score a place in triple j’s Hottest 100 with ‘Party Pill’, marking their fourth consecutive year in the poll.