R?f?s du Sol on Group?s Fifth Studio Album: ?We Had to Do a Bit of Growing Up?
It was 3:00 a.m. in Austin, Texas, and R?f?s du Sol couldn?t figure out the chord arrangement.
The trio had been working for hours, assembling and re-assembling a single chord progression in dozens of different ways. ?I think we were on our 30th coffee,? jokes the group?s keyboardist Jon George.
Then, they thought of Underworld?s ?Born Slippy (Nuxx),? and the way the 1996 song?s classic intro sort of stutters into existence like passing digital clouds. They transposed this structure onto what they were working on, and there they had it, with the idea helping complete a darkly lush song called ?Edge of the Earth.?
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It was an in-the-moment creative spark that probably wouldn?t have happened if the guys had been on an afternoon remote work session from separate cities, a method they?d tried when first starting on music for their new album. But with the group?s singer Tyrone Lindqvist based in San Diego, Calif. and George and drummer James Hunt living in Miami, they couldn?t just casually assemble in the studio.
?There was some nerves about how we would finish the next record,? says Lindqvist. ?We always knew we were going to keep making music regardless of where we live, but there was some uncertainty about how that was going to play out. We tried writing separately, and it wasn?t really clicking.?
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Together, they decided on a series of two week work sessions. They met for two weeks in Austin, then took eight weeks off. They met for two weeks in Ibiza, then took eight weeks off, with the next two week session happening in the Australian group?s former home base of Los Angeles. They?d bring ideas and what Hunt calls an ?amazing playground? of instruments to their traveling creative bubble, then go their separate ways and flesh the music out separately.
After 18 months of this workflow, the guys ultimately assembled their fifth studio album, Inhale / Exhale, out Friday (Oct. 11) through Warner Records. The 15 tracks are classic R?f?s: dreamy and delicate, occasionally dark and full of longing, but never overtly challenging, and altogether built from as much analog as electronic instrumentation.
?Each time we did a block, I feel like we got stronger at exploring ideas, breaking the ice quicker, playing and being very free,? says Hunt. ?We?d initially finish around 10:00 p.m. and by the end, because we?d be having so much fun, we?d be wrapping at like, 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning. We?d leave those two weeks fatigued, but very satisfied and stoked, because there?d be so much material.?
And in this way, instead of writing being a slog with no end in site, the eight weeks off provided a built in restoration period. Both in and out of the studio, the process was enhanced by the load of wellness practices that have been part of the R?f?s repertoire for years, with group workout sessions, breathwork, ice baths and guided meditations all part of the routine. ?It put us in a really dialed in zone where we felt focused and present and optimized and in a good place,? says Hunt.
But after nearly 15 years and five studio albums, the trio required a bit more maintenance than some diaphragmatic breathing. They?d started partaking in group therapy a few years back, and ? recognizing that they wanted their creative space to be, Hunt says, ?sacred? and therefore free of interpersonal drama ? did therapy during the making of Inhale / Exhale as well. Speaking to Billboard over Zoom from Australia, the guys (assembled on a couch together and all dressed in black) agree that therapy has been valuable in enhancing their communication and creating, Hunt says, ?connection that feels way healthier. I think our friendships have improved dramatically as a result of it.?
So too has it helped them navigate the touring lifestyle and its myriad challenges and siren calls. ?We began this endeavor to be touring on the road and to be all focused on the music,? says George, ?and that would maybe lead to maybe immature decisions. We just didn?t do a lot of growing for a period of time. It was just us relying on each other and being caught up in this washing machine that is being in a band and indulging in a rock star lifestyle for a little bit there.
?We naturally had to do a bit of growing up at some point,? he continues, ?and we?re lucky that we were safe enough in that time that we didn?t blow ourselves out, or blow a tire on our bus, so to speak.?
Now, armed with more sustainable life choices and better listening skills, within R?f?s there?s generally ?less pointing fingers,? says Lindqvist, and more ?working on communicating as soon as we can in an appropriate space, and not doing it in a room of 30 people, or just before we?re about to go on an interview.?
It?s wise to have brushed up on it all as the R?f?s du Sol machine has turned back on over the last four months. The guys, who say they enjoy the album cycle process, marked the last one with a massive global tour and a win for best dance/electronic recording at the 2022 Grammys for their track ?Alive,? from the album Surrender.
Their two years of touring behind that album began with three shows at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles (which for many attendees marked their first post-pandemic concert), and ended in August of 2023. Beyond a few festival dates in Australia and their ongoing residency at Las Vegas club XS, the guys were largely quiet until this past spring, when they were a late addition to the Coachella lineup, then showed up for a surprise set at Lightning in a Bottle near Bakersfield, Calif. in May. (Lindqvist does not perform during DJ sets, leaving that element of the R?f?s oeuvre to George and Hunt.)
R?f?s du Sol at Portola 2024 Stufish
The lead single from Inhale / Exhale, ?Music Is Better,? dropped in June, ultimately reaching No. 1 on Dance Mix Show/Airplay earlier this month. Another three singles, (and another DJ set played at Burning Man 2024 and uploaded to YouTube), built hype for both the album and R?f?s? September headlining set at Portola Music Festival in San Francisco, their only live U.S. show of the year.
This Portola show drew a giant crowd and found the guys unveiling a new stage set up less focused on lights and lasers and more focused on?them.
?No shade being thrown, but what?s happening a lot in the [live] electronic music scene is a lot more visuals,? says George. ?We were playing into that a fair bit on our last couple of tours, with big LED walls and [the like], so we were just excited by showing something different and leaning into the musicality.?
Their Portola set up ? designed by their longtime creative director Katzki, who?s also George?s brother ? struck a sparer, more industrial aesthetic, with visuals focused on showing the guys playing their instruments in cutting edge IMAG (image magnification), which Katzki was inspired to incorporate after seeing a Rosal?a show.
?It?s focusing on the musicality of what we?re doing between the three of us,? George says of the Portola performance. ?Now I?m excited for what we?re pushing further for next year.? (R?f?s has not thus far announced any additional tour dates.) For now, they say having another album out is a success, as are the creative directions they?ve pushed themselves on it, as are the number of fans who?ve been with them for the duration of their career.
Just as they started writing it, they did a guided meditation focused, George says, on ?how we were going to feel after writing a record, and what my future self looks like during that process.? (They?d done the same kind of meditation before the 2022 Grammys, envisioning what it would be like to win, and then winning.) During this process, George simply saw his future self, the one who?d just released the album, smiling widely like a cheshire cat. Today on Zoom, he flashes a big grin, like the one he says he?d imagined. They all do.
