Yukon Blonde’s new album On Blonde will be released June 12 via Dine Alone Records and is available for pre-order.
“It’s a more dynamic and more visceral album than our previous records,” explains frontman Jeff Innes. “We were more ambitious writing On Blonde so it’s sort of ironic that in experimenting we created a more accessible record than ever before.”
On Blonde builds on Yukon Blonde’s reputation for seamlessly crafted pop songs with infectious melodies and hooks, all the while experimenting with psychedelic, digital and synthetic sounds.
Produced by Colin Stewart (Black Mountain, Dan Mangan, Sleepy Sun) and mixed by Tony Hoffer (M83, Beck, Foster the People, Air, Depeche Mode), On Blonde effortlessly finds its place in the contemporary indie pop landscape.
Analogue synthesizers, modulating Moog saw tooth leads, and FM soft pads, create an atmosphere akin to city street summer midnight meanderings. Wiry guitars, stabbing or jangly make way for fuzzed out phasing lead tones. This sonic atmosphere permeates through the entirety of the record.
The album is an exercise in pop pleasures ranging from spiky guitar-driven tracks (often recorded with a Dinosaur Jr. flare for the dramatic), to Depeche Mode-dark synth songs (“Starvation”), and irrepressible sing-alongs (lead single, “Saturday Night”).
Saturday Night video can be viewed HERE. The decadent and camp-laden video bridges punk, disco and glam rock while playing with notions of ego and sexuality in a single-shot format. It’s directed by Mac Boucher (Grimes, Te Shi) and stars drag queen Sapphire.
Boucher says “I first saw Sapphire perform at a drag show nearly a year ago, and I knew I had to work with her in some way. She’s animated, glamorous, and is straight up one of the best performers I’ve ever seen. The idea of a drag queen is fascinating, because dissimilar to transgender, the drag queen’s purpose is to perform, provoke, and really, really question what you’re seeing… which is always a good thing in my opinion. Sapphire’s character, ‘Diva’, similar to Tim Curry’s in Rocky Horror, has a commanding presence that literally pulls us through the environment.”