WATCH AND SHARE “THE PAST” 360 VR VIDEO HERE
DEATH TOUR DATES BEGIN OCTOBER 9
RELEASE, OUT NOW VIA HAVEN SOUNDS
PURCHASE / STREAM RELEASE HERE
“A bold talent, his grasp of sonics is interlinked with a desire to express something, to challenge both himself and those around him.” - Clash Magazine
"’The Middle’ is an extremely earnest, charming-as-hell reflection on the self at the midpoint of life and death." - Noisey
"This is an anthemic collection of head nodding and foot tapping electro-pop" - PopMatters
"Easily one of the most mesmerizing tracks we've heard so far this year." - CBC Music (2018)
“Aucoin, a characteristically ambitious artist” - Paste Mag
“The Past” 360 VR Video Screen Shot
Today, Rich Aucoin shares the 360 VR video for “The Past” from his latest critically acclaimed LP, Release, an album that grapples with the concept of mortality by using Alice in Wonderland (1951) as a metaphor for the journey. “The Past” is about “letting go,” Aucoin tells Indie88. “The lyrics ‘don’t look back, was I always wrong?’ are repeated throughout. ‘It’s come out of my love, it’s coming for me’ is regret chasing one down until it kills them if they live with a sense of living in the past and/or with their regrets and mistakes letting them oppress you with trauma instead of working through those feelings and traumas to move forward and be uncontrolled by them. Alice is making a pivotal choice to move forward and not go back the way she came as she goes deeper into herself and her wonderland.”
Musically, “The Past” is entirely made Aucoin’s vocals and body with no instruments. “All the drums and percussion were made from my mouth or clapping. I pitched down my voice for the bass as well as creating the vocal pads and vocal melody lines.”
The 360 VR video for “The Past” shot by Pete Macdonald and edited by AJ King, continues that theme putting the viewer inside a 3D cube made up of Aucoin's mouth on each of its six sides, with each mouth doing a part of the song which was all made from his mouth as well. The audio, spatialized by Kyle Varley, is set so that when one moves their phone or VR headset around to hear each of the parts of music, the part's volume increases as well so the viewer makes their own mix of the track.
WATCH AND SHARE “THE PAST” 360 VR VIDEO HERE
Rich Aucoin has been bringing his joyous celebration of life show around the world for the past decade. With this new album and tour, Rich has focused on death more than his previous efforts We're All Dying To Live and Ephemeral in which themes of life and death were also addressed. His third album Release, originally called Death, acts as the conclusion in his first trilogy of albums. For these shows once and only, Rich and crew will perform the album in its entirety to the film Dark Side of The Moon / Wizard of Oz sync style. If you've been enjoying Release this summer and Rich's shows over the years, come out and get covered in parachutes and projections, confetti, and celebrations before his upcoming death in 2020. The Death Tour begins October 10, full tour dates can be found below. To get a glimpse of what to expect at the show, watch the Death Tour preview video captured by Southern Souls.
WATCH AND SHARE THE DEATH TOUR PREVIEW VIDEO
Produced by Aucoin and drummer Joel Waddell, his music has seen acclaim across the board with previous releases (We’re All Dying To Live and Ephemeral) long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize (2012/2015). As part of a list of Rich Aucoin’s accomplishments, the music video for “Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E.” won the Prism Prize (2013), which he’s also been shortlisted for this year. Nominated for ten East Coast Music Awards including Album, Song, and Fan Choice Entertainer of the Year, with more than 2 million streams, Aucoin has built a reputation for his energetic live shows performing his music written in sync to old movies in the same manner as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon with The Wizard of Oz. Using projections to these films, he has brought his interactive performance to stages at Osheaga, The Great Escape, Les Eurockéennes, Les Vielles Charrues, Berlin Music Festival, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Hangout Music Festival, Art Basel Miami, Luminato Art Festival, Iceland Airwaves, SXSW, Pop Montreal and more.
WATCH AND SHARE “THE CHANGE” HERE
WATCH AND SHARE “THE OTHER” HERE
Born, raised and currently based in Halifax, Canada, Rich Aucoin has been fully immersed in music ever since he can remember, learning how to play almost any instrument he could get his hands on while also teaching himself production and home-recording. A philanthropist at heart, Aucoin has raised money for several charities with his music. He has cycled coast to coast twice for both Childhood Cancer Canada and The Canadian Mental Health Association/Mental Health America; cycling to each show. He has also crossed Canada for the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation running a series of half-marathons.
RICH AUCOIN TOUR DATES
Aug 9 - Hubbards, NS - Shore Club
Sep 9 - San Jose, CA - The Ritz*
Sep 10 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop*
Sep 11 - Arcata, CA - Hum Brews*
Sep 14 - Toronto, ON - The Bentway ‘Moon Merge’
Sep 17 - Edmonton, AB - Rec Room*
Sep 20 - Minneapolis, MN - Turf Club*
Sep 21 - Milwaukee, WI - Shank Hall*
Sep 22 - Iowa City, IA - Gabe's Oasis*
Sep 24 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater*
Sep 25 - Grand Junction, CO - Mesa Theater*
Sep 27 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar*
Sep 30 - San Diego, CA - Casbah*
Oct 1 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo*
* with TWRP
DEATH TOUR
Oct 9 - London, ON - Call The Office
Oct 10 - Guelph, ON - e-Bar
Oct 11 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall
Oct 12 - Brooklyn, NY - Knitting Factory
Oct 17 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe
Oct 18 - Chicago, IL - HVAC Pub
Oct 19 - Cudahy, WI - X-Ray Arcade
Oct 31 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret
Nov 2 - Victoria, BC - Lucky Bar
Nov 7 - Charlottetown, PEI - PEI Brewing Company
Nov 8 - St John’s, NF - The Rock House
Nov 14 - Sao Paulo, BR - Breve
Nob 21 - Quebec, QC - La Source de la Martinière
Nov 22 - Montreal, QC - O Patro Vys
Nov 23 - Ottawa, ON - House of TARG
Nov 28 - Winnipeg, MB - Good Will
Nov 30 - Calgary, AB - Commonwealth
MORE TOUR DATES TO BE ANNOUNCED SOON
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