Midnight Oil today debuted the first single off its forthcoming studio album, an environmental call to action titled “Rising Seas” that the band is releasing ahead of next week’s United Nations COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland.
Check out the music video for the song below.
The Oils recorded the new Warne Livesey-produced album along with 2020’s The Makarrata Project — a collaboration with First Nation musicians — pre-COVID, and had intended to release the second project this year. That’s now been delayed until early 2022, when the band can tour behind it.
The new song “Rising Seas” and the rest of the album feature bassist Bones Hillman, who died of cancer nearly a year ago. The video for the new track features a tribute to Hillman, with the band performing without a bassist, and a lone bass guitar standing next to Rob Hirst’s drum kit.
Of the song, guitarist-songwriter Jim Moginie says: “’Rising Seas’ has been burning a hole in our pockets ever since we started tracking it two years ago. The climate crisis calls for a real sense of urgency so we decided not to wait any longer to share it.”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS:
- Listen: Midnight Oil returns with ‘Gadigal Land’ — first new song in 17 years
- Midnight Oil to release ‘Gadigal Land’ — first new song in 17 years — this week
- Midnight Oil to release 2 new albums this year, tour internationally into 2021
- Midnight Oil details huge new 12-disc box set: Demos, rarities, B-sides, hours of live video
- Midnight Oil announces massive 2017 reunion tour, 3 huge box sets with unreleased music
The Midnight Oil comeback powers along, full steam ahead! They’ve certainly recaptured the classic Oil’s sound. After the awesome Makarrata Project was so warmly received by fans, I’m really looking forward to picking the new studio album up early next year. Great stuff.
The precatory beginning and its prose is no value added, better they jump right into it so the song is recognizable as Midnight Oil.
The ‘urgent’ climate crisis was urgent 30 years ago, and will be urgent for decades to come.
Back in 2002, my mother-in-law breathlessly reported to me an NPR story regarding the urgent state of the climate in my hometown. In it, the journalist stated, backed up by science of course, that the temperature in Phoenix AZ would cease to drop below 95 degrees in 10 years. This was asserted with no qualifications.
Let’s face it, whether you believe in it or not, the marketing for this issue has been a total failure.
Love the new song! Best song they’ve released since they reunited. Can’t wait to hear more.
MO’s music is always top notch. The lyrics are just overbearing at times.
Can’t wait for the full album. Any word on an official release date?
Brilliant. The Oils have not lost a step over the decades. Keep going!
If I were unfortunate enough to be a native Down Under, I would be much more concerned about Rising Tyranny than Rising Seas. They are drowning in the former.
Midnight Oil’s was woke before it was cool, and it was tired back then. Now it’s beyond annoying. STFU already.