Tourist welcomes 2024 with a new single ‘Valentine’ accompanied by the official video with a first exclusive spin on Clara Amfo’s BBCR1 show. Alongside the release, he announces that his fifth album ‘Memory Morning’ will be released on April 19, on his imprint Monday Records, amid two fast-selling headline tours in the US and the UK/EU.
Following closely behind ‘EST’, ‘Second Nature’ and ‘A Little Bit Further’, Tourist’s latest release, ‘Valentine’ sees him build a free-flowing, progressive-house beat from a fragmented vocal; retaining the atmospheric, sample-based approach of his last three singles. The result is a track characterised by a freewheeling, emotional intensity and surety of purpose, as the vocalists sing in a pensive, and perhaps foreboding, way: ‘Can I ever get enough of your love?’. ‘Valentine’ is the calling card for a master of melancholic and ambient house who, after an illustrious eleven-year career, has more than proven his unparalleled skill at evoking beauty and tenderness on an electronic canvas.
On the vocal sample, Tourist explains: ‘The track was inspired after hearing the Jeremy Spencer Band’s “Travellin’”. I rarely feel bursts of inspiration like it but the isolated chorus vocals almost had a New Order-ness to them. The finished track had this dualistic quality whereby it felt like something I’d not heard before but it also felt familiar.’
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Throwback Thursday: Leftfield's Leftism and the Class of 1995This ethos of nostalgia and disorientation will typify Tourist’s upcoming fifth album, ‘Memory Morning’, set for release on 19th April 2024. The record is an exciting contrast to its predecessors, on which Tourist gives his perspective: ‘“Memory Morning” is one of those albums that really took shape as I wrote it, I had absolutely no point of reference to start from, and that was equal parts liberating and daunting. Often my music draws from specific life events but this album really lives in and was borne from my imagination. I wanted to write something that felt like it whisked you away, an album that felt like a “place”, its own world, somewhere you might find new corners with each listen. It truly is the first album I’ve written that feels like the sum of all of my influences, I’ve a pop tendency in my heart and I think Memory Morning doesn’t shy away from those instincts. Fundamentally, it’s inspired by dreams, memories and all those in-between experiences that are sometimes better expressed through music.
With the 10-track ‘Memory Morning’, Tourist has travelled to a faraway point on his musical map, in his constant search for what the perfect song could be. He no longer makes tracks indebted to the rough ‘n’ ready dancefloor jams that defined his youth, designed for booming rave sound systems, but “wordless songs” inspired by his fond memories of them. Drawn to the lush strangeness of shoegaze and psychedelic music – through his love of Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, Cocteau Twins and Beach House – the collagist nostalgia of his “utter heroes” The Avalanches, and the award-winning 2022 film Aftersun, Tourist wrote Memory Morning in a stream of consciousness mode, focusing on scene-setting and the intensity of the private listening experience. Memory Morning moves away from explicit autobiography and towards a mood-based, instinctive style of electronic songwriting and composition. The record moves between many different sonic pallets; from the swirling pianos of opener ‘Lifted Out’, to the huge, Vangelis-esque synths of ‘Ithaca’, to the pulsing house beat on ‘Crush’, each track creates an immersive and dreamlike atmosphere in its own way.
After the enormous success of his last album ‘Inside Out’, with praise across the breadth of the global music media – including Clash, Bandcamp, This Song Is Sick, Stoney Roads, Music Tech and more – the UK-based producer went on to tour the world and wow crowds far and wide with his live shows. An album created during the coronavirus pandemic, the death of a close friend and the birth of his daughter changed his life. To express his interlocking grief and joy, he made ‘Inside Out’, a tender, uplifting album of swinging garage grooves, chunky bass, and French filter house melodies.
Having blazed a unique trail in his own work, Tourist continues to remix for the likes of Flume, Christine and The Queens, Wolf Alice, Deftones, CHVRCHES, Sophia Koutesis, Swedish House Mafia and The Weeknd. Showing no signs of slowing down he continues to grow with every year and has gone on to pick up a Grammy, co-write ‘Stay With Me’ for Sam Smith, sell-out dates and festival appearances. In an era where electronic music continues to evolve, Tourist stands out as a visionary artist who expertly navigates the electronic landscape; his innovative soundscapes and soulful melodies have earned him acclaim from fans and critics alike.
As he gears up to release ‘Memory Morning’ and embark on two fast-selling headline tours, Tourist shows no sign of slowing down and he’s all the more ready to captivate an ever-bigger audience with his art. Tourist’s fifth album, “Memory Morning” arrives on April 19th. Pre-order it here: https://orcd.co/memorymorning
VIDEO CREDITS
Director – Ozzie Pullin
Production – Dad Bod Films
ALBUM TRACKLIST
1. Lifted Out
2. A Little Bit Further
3. Valentine
4. Siren
5. Ithaca
6. Blink
7. EST
8. Second Nature
9. Crush
10. Memory Morning
TOURIST x AMTRAC NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
February 6 – Vancouver, BC – Hollywood Theatre – NEW DATE ADDED
February 7 – Vancouver, BC – Hollywood Theatre – SOLD OUT
February 8 – Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom
February 9 – Los Angeles, CA – Fonda Theatre
February 10 – San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom
February 11 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
February 15 – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
February 16 – New York, NY – Brooklyn Steel
February 17 – Chicago, IL – Concord Music Hall
TOURIST UK / EU HEADLINE TOUR
April 25 – Berlin, Germany – Frannz Club
April 26 – Prague, Czech Rep – Kasarna Karlin
April 27 – Warsaw, Poland – Niebo Klub
May 2 – Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg Olde Zaal
May 3 – Nijmegen, Netherlands – Doornroosje small hall
May 4 – Rotterdam, Netherlands – Bird Rotterdam
May 9 – Bristol, UK – Trinity Centre
May 10 – London, UK – Roundhouse
May 11 – Nottingham, UK – Rescue Rooms
May 16 – Paris, France – Trabendo
May 23 – Glasgow, UK – King Tuts
May 24 – Manchester, UK – Canvas
June 21-23 – Ireland – Beyond the Pale
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