ALT-ELECTRONIC ARTIST/PRODUCER ARK PATROL UNVEILS NEW ALBUM GEM

Today, alternative electronic artist and producer Ark Patrol shares GEM, his second LP, and announces his first-ever headline tour. The Hawaii-born, LA-based artist has been trickling out pieces of GEM since the beginning of the year, via EPs G and E.

The 13-song GEM mixes vocal tracks and instrumentals to form a chronological narrative, drawing on sounds, emotions and themes from childhood, through adolescence, and into young adulthood. The album runs parallel to Ark Patrol’s own life experience, as both a performer and a cancer survivor. 

“For about five years I was convinced I was going to die of cancer only to turn out as a viral artist,” Ark Patrol shares. “I received more positive attention and resources than I knew how to process. Following that, my reality dimmed heavily. Meaning began to disappear and gravity shifted. Combined with unchecked childhood abuse, these events formed an opening through which I could outline answers.”

GEM includes four featured artists, including trusted collaborator Veronika Redd—the two previously worked together on 2016 viral hit “Let Go,” which has over 200M streams across DSPs). Additional features come from indie pop/funk-RnB artist SEB on scintillating dance-pop banger “FOLN4U,” precocious genre-bending artist Lecx Stacy on “Relief” and rising New York-based Shanghainese artist Fifi Zhang on “Tomorrow Can Wait.”

To build out the surreal visual world of GEM, Ark Patrol enlisted the help of director/3D animator Anna Chandler (Sabrina Carpenter / Khruangbin / Selena Gomez). “I told her this is supposed to represent a dark time then a recovery period,” he says. “It was an opportunity to vibrate with someone beyond words. The world she created through her visuals is huge, vast and empty. For that to emerge from her consciousness when I wanted this to be a “fun” album is really cutting.” The final visual in this series, “Too Far,” releases today, tying up the entire visual narrative. This poignant finale connects all the emotional and visual threads into a compelling conclusion.

For Ark Patrol, GEM is “like a Trojan horse.” “You’re smuggling in real thoughts and real feelings but disguising it so that people who aren’t ready to see it won’t see it,” he says. “It’s really fun to listen to. But you’re not thinking about the story it took to get there.” 

Still, he hopes that the album will provide solace for all listeners, whether it’s something they listen to on a dancefloor or while doom-scrolling on the couch. “Like a gem, the album has this crystalline structure that links to everything,” he leaves off. “I just want it to be a safe place for whoever listens to it.”

In the weeks following GEM, Ark Patrol will embark on his first-ever headline tour across the US, with a special last stop planned for Honolulu. Spanning 11 dates, the tour includes stops at The Echo in LA, Elsewhere (Zone One) in NYC and Holocene in Portland. Keep up with more tour news by visiting Ark Patrol’s website.

GEM is available at all digital retailers here: https://arkpatrol.ffm.to/gem

GEM Tracklist

You Know

Top Of The World

Oui (with Veronika Redd)

Origin

Tomorrow Can Wait (with Fifi Zhang)

FOLN4U (with SEB) 

La Mina 

Painting In A Low 

Relief (with Lecx Stacy) 

Say

Too Far

Control

Estudio

GEM TOUR DATES

Wednesday, September 11 | San Diego, CA | Casbah

Thursday, September 12 | Los Angeles, CA | The Echo

Friday, September 13 | San Francisco, CA | Rickshaw Stop

Sunday, September 15 | Portland, OR | Holocene

Wednesday, September 18 | Seattle, WA | Barboza

Thursday, September 19 | Denver, CO | Larimer Lounge

Saturday, September 21 | Dallas, TX | Club Dada

Thursday, September 26 | Phoenix, AZ | Thundercat Lounge

Friday, September 27 | Chicago, IL, | Bourbon On Division

Saturday, September 28 | Brooklyn, NY, | Zone One, Elsewhere

Friday, October 4 | Honolulu, HI | HB Social Club