UNITED STATES DELUXE LP, INCLUDES TWO BONUS REMIX TRACKS AND A SECOND DISC WITH INSTRUMENTALS OF ALL ALBUM TRACKS, OUT APRIL 23, 2021 VIA HAVEN SOUNDS
LISTEN AND SHARE “WALLS” (DOUBLE A REMIX) HERE
PRE-SAVE UNITED STATES DELUXE LP HERE
BUY / STREAM UNITED STATES HERE
Photo Credit: Riley Smith // DOWNLOAD HIGH-RES
Today, Rich Aucoin announces the upcoming release of the Deluxe Version of his acclaimed album, United States. The deluxe version includes two new remixes of album tracks from Double A and Steve Bays, and bonus disc featuring instrumental versions of all the album tracks. “I'm really excited to include the album with these remixes as well as releasing all the instrumentals for the first time,” says Aucoin. “Howie Beck's (Charlotte Day Wilson/River Tiber/Feist) mix really shines in the instrumentals too. It was great to work with someone on back to back records as we've got a great work flow established. Since I wrote this record on my bicycle to demo versions of these instrumentals while cycling across the United States, people can now hear what I heard over and over again as I figured out the lyrical content while observing my surroundings in 2018.”
PRE-SAVE UNITED STATES DELUXE LP HERE
Aucoin is also sharing the first remix from the deluxe album. “Walls”, remixed by the legendary Double A arrives today on all digital platforms. “After touring the world as a prolific Drum n Bass artist, Double A attended King's College with me where we met and where he convinced me to change up my usual sit to the side of the stage style performance while accompanying a projection of the films I write my music to to get actually into the audience and play a more dance style set,” says Aucoin. “Playing Famous Players with Small Town DJs really was my first foray into what the show eventually became as its mainstay (while seated shows still occasionally occur as well). I was excited when Double A expressed interest to remix ‘Walls’ upon its release and give it his classic Drum n Bass treatment.”
LISTEN AND SHARE “WALLS” (DOUBLE A REMIX) HERE
Rich is also releasing his first NFT with an unreleased track composed for a friend's student film at AFI. The track is a single copy. The instrumentation is: Vibraphone, Hammond Organ, Piano, Electric Bass, Drums, Percussion. Recorded and performed by Rich in 2006. Find out more HERE.
MORE ABOUT UNITED STATES
Aucoin wrote United States, observing America from the ground level, while cycling across it for Mental Health America and the Canadian Mental Health Association. While taking this Robert Frank approach, Aucoin composed a song for each of the 12 states he pedalled through. The record is as much about the current socio-political climate of America as it is about states of consciousness; as much fuelled by the burgeoning American protest movement or Hedges’ social commentary as it is fuelled by McKenna/Pollan world of psychedelics and meditation apps.
Rich Aucoin has never been short on ambitions or concepts. From his first EP, Personal Publication—on which he played over two dozen instruments and wrote it to sync to How the Grinch Stole Christmas—to We’re All Dying to Live’s 500 performers, to his death mediation Release, the pop anthemist has always dug deep and gone big. But this is the first time he’s written a record from the grounds of a crumbling empire. In the spring of 2018, Aucoin set off from Los Angeles on one of his customarily challenging (and eco-friendly) tours. Final stop: New York City. Vehicle: Bicycle.
He travelled the perimeter of the United States, down the west coast, across the south, and up the eastern seaboard. He saw a country, two years into a dictatorship, divided and hurting. A pair of wheels and his own two feet took him through landscapes varied in their construction and grandeur, from the boarded-up storefronts of Route 66 to the fountain formation of Red Rocks. Tiny towns and major cities. Thriving and fading.
Aucoin has been long-listed for the Polaris Music Prize twice. His music video for “Brian Wilson is A.L.I.V.E.” won the Prism Prize. Aucoin has built a reputation as one of the best live shows in Canada according to CBC Radio3. His albums all sync to old movies like Pink Floyd's Dark Side of The Moon with The Wizard of Oz. He has performed dozens of festivals including Osheaga, The Great Escape, Les Eurockéennes, Berlin Music Festival, Art Basel Miami, Luminato Art Festival, Iceland Airwaves, SXSW, and Pop Montreal.
WATCH AND SHARE “KAYFABE” HERE
WATCH AND SHARE “WALLS” HERE
WATCH AND SHARE “RESET” HERE
WATCH AND SHARE “HOW IT BREAKS” HERE
BUY / STREAM UNITED STATES HERE
PRAISE FOR RICH AUCOIN
“On United States, beauty and sadness, hope and pain are shown not to be mutually exclusive — the album demonstrates a jolting acknowledgement of reality combined with an electrifying hope of what could be” Exclaim!
“peppered with Beach Boy harmonies, ’70s soul grooves and dance beats that move the body while his lyrical pleas move the mind. ...powerful, motivational” The Halifax Chronicle Herald
"Aucoin is Ennio Morricone armed with a Korg and a decade-spanning set of samples. He’s Steven Spielberg with reverbed vocals. And you can listen along to his imageless movie, United States, laying out a montage in your mind’s eye" The Coast
"Aucoin’s upbeat pop sound remains as universal as ever, and even though on the surface the lyrics and themes on this fourth LP are tied together by something specific, the world is always watching" - CULT MTL
“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
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