alt-J share electrifying new single and video “Hard Drive Gold”

The Mercury Prize-winning, chart-topping band alt-J have started 2022 with a bang, releasing their electrifying new track “Hard Drive Gold”, the third song to be taken from their forthcoming album ‘The Dream‘, set for release on 11 February 2022 via Infectious Music/BMG.

“Hard Drive Gold” is a true burst of energy: a spiritual successor to 2014’s “Left Hand Free”. The song is propelled by a direct and relentless groove, with vocalist Joe Newman finding space to launch into gently subversive lyricism that sends up those looking to make a quick buck from cryptocurrency. The chanted refrain of “Don’t be afraid to make money, boy” increases in force throughout the track – it seems to resemble more of a warning than a celebration.

Band member Gus Unger-Hamilton explains, “’Hard Drive Gold’ is a slightly tongue-in-cheek song written at what we thought was the height of the cryptocurrency gold rush. It’s the story of the ultimate childhood fantasy, the schoolboy who becomes a millionaire overnight, and the different interactions he has with people in his life from teachers to neighbours. How ironically you interpret its message is entirely up to you.”

The song is accompanied by a video which is Joe Newman’s directorial debut. Across the band’s career, Joe has been involved in developing the ideas of a number of alt-J videos and now with “Hard Drive Gold”, he takes the full step up. The video is co-directed by his partner Darcy Wallace who choreographs for both film and music videos. Speaking about his involvement in the video, Joe says, “Growing up enjoying cinema greatly I saw our music videos as opportune moments for directors to create stories purely, and so we the band did not appear in our videos. By avoiding cuts to a band playing in an ‘aeroplane hanger’, the audience could focus on the cinema over the indie band music video tropes.”

He adds, “I had ideas for videos that I passed on to directors to develop, watching these directors execute some of these ideas inspired me and now I want to understand and experience the process at a deeper level.”

“Hard Drive Gold” follows “Get Better”, the stirring centrepiece of forthcoming album ‘The Dream’, and “U&ME”, an inspired snapshot of the band’s experiences of playing summer festivals in Australia. Alongside this, they have recently shared news of a huge world tour in 2022. alt-J have established a sizeable and loyal fanbase in Asia, having previously helmed the main stages of We The Fest (Indonesia), Laneway Festival (Singapore), Good Vibes Festival (Malaysia) and more.

alt-J are one of the most successful British bands of the millennium. Joe Newman, Gus Unger-Hamilton and Thom Green have released three studio albums that, between them, have sold in excess of two million copies and their songs have been streamed over two and a half billion times. Their 2012 Mercury Prize and Ivor Novello Award-winning debut ‘An Awesome Wave’, was followed two years later by their number one, GRAMMY and BRIT Award-nominated album ‘This Is All Yours‘. Released in 2017, ‘RELAXER‘ flew straight into the top 10 of the UK album chart ahead of a summer of major international shows – including a headline show at London’s O2 Arena; and headline performances at numerous festivals – and became their second album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize.

‘The Dream’ will be available on CD and vinyl. There will also be a limited edition hardback book CD that reproduces the notebook Joe Newman used to write ‘The Dream’ featuring his original handwritten lyrics and drawings. The official artist store includes merchandise bundles with signed print and exclusive cassette and vinyl formats.