Jack River Shares Track & Video For “Dark Star,” Announces U.S. Tour and SXSW
January 16, 2020 BY Nettwerk
Jack River shares her new single “Dark Star” today, a cutting song about the murky depths of infatuation that is lifted off her Stranger Heart EP – due out February 14, 2020 via Nettwerk. FLOOD Magazine unveiled the video for “Dark Star” yesterday, calling the track “...an electropop jam highlighting Rankin’s distinctive sugar-high voice—with shades of Gwen Stefani’s slightly weepy grunge—and a sultry electric guitar riff trailing Rankin’s lyrics.” Watch now HERE or check out the track via your preferred listening service HERE.
Along with the track and video, she has also announced a SXSW performance along with three intimate shows marking her first tour in North America. Jack River is set to play LA’s Bootleg Bar on March 24th, Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right on March 26th and Toronto’s Drake Hotel on March 27th alongside other up-and-coming Australian artists Didirri and Alex the Astronaut. Tickets are on sale and will be available via www.jackrivermusic.com.
“Dark Star” follows piano ballad “Closer” that Billboard called “a pared-back number, showcasing River’s vocals over piano with a powerful dose of nostalgia” and first single “Later Flight” – which premiered on triple j Breakfast and quickly became the #1 most played song, streaming more than half a million times. This latest single sees River tap into long-past feelings and sings of the dark obsession underlying young love. At 21 years old, she says she dreamed the bridge into being: “a racy, guitar-y, sentimental song that made you feel like you’re driving past your ex’s house.” She imagined a song that replicated the feeling of “having your heart dragged through the room” while listening to Oasis. Pitched high, the sweetness of her voice betrays the desperate, wanting plea that grows out of a feeling of being abandoned or forgotten.
With Stranger Heart, River has drawn a road map for an alternative way to feel and process, all while pleading the case for the heart as a complex and dynamic thing. With this release, River set out to make music that sounds like a feeling and “Dark Star” delivers, transporting the listener back to their first unrequited love; a crushing state of both total euphoria and draining fixation.
All three new tracks follow the release of her three-time ARIA-nominated, critically acclaimed 2018 debut LP Sugar Mountain. More than just a successful musician, Jack River’s Holly Rankin runs her own company The Hopeless Utopian, she’s the founder and curator behind two very successful events in Australia – Grow Your Own Festival and her Electric Lady platform and she’s been on the frontline of the climate crisis fight, hosting a panel of climate experts in Sydney last spring and performing to 80K people there on Sept. 20th for School Strike for Climate. More recently, she’s been personally impacted by the fires, having to evacuate her home in NSW last week.
Jack River will bring Stranger Heart to life on tour in March – dates below and be on the lookout for a full SXSW schedule in the coming weeks. Check out “Dark Star” and keep your eyes on www.jackrivermusic.com for the most up-to-date information.
March 13-15 @ SXSW – Austin, TX
March 24th @ Bootleg Bar – Los Angeles, CA
March 26th @ Baby’s All Right – Brooklyn, NY
March 27th @ The Drake – Toronto, ON
