Jack River shares her new single 'Dark Star' today, a cutting song about the murky depths of infatuation that is lifted off her Stranger Heart EP – due out February 14, 2020 via Nettwerk. FLOOD Magazine unveiled the video for “Dark Star” yesterday, calling the track "...an electropop jam highlighting Rankin’s distinctive sugar-high voice—with shades of Gwen Stefani’s slightly weepy grunge—and a sultry electric guitar riff trailing Rankin’s lyrics."
Along with the track and video, she has also announced a SXSW performance along with three intimate shows marking her first tour in North America. Jack River is set to play LA’s Bootleg Bar on March 24th, Brooklyn’s Baby’s All Right on March 26th and Toronto’s Drake Hotel on March 27th alongside other up-and-coming Australian artists Didirri and Alex the Astronaut.
'Dark Star' follows piano ballad 'Closer' that Billboard called “a pared-back number, showcasing River’s vocals over piano with a powerful dose of nostalgia” and first single 'Later Flight' – which premiered on triple j Breakfast and quickly became the #1 most played song, streaming more than half a million times. This latest single sees River tap into long-past feelings and sings of the dark obsession underlying young love. At 21 years old, she says she dreamed the bridge into being: "a racy, guitar-y, sentimental song that made you feel like you're driving past your ex's house." She imagined a song that replicated the feeling of "having your heart dragged through the room" while listening to Oasis. Pitched high, the sweetness of her voice betrays the desperate, wanting plea that grows out of a feeling of being abandoned or forgotten.
All three new tracks follow the release of her three-time ARIA-nominated, critically acclaimed 2018 debut LP 'Sugar Mountain'. More than just a successful musician, Jack River’s Holly Rankin runs her own company The Hopeless Utopian, she’s the founder and curator behind two very successful events in Australia – Grow Your Own Festival and her Electric Lady platform and she’s been on the frontline of the climate crisis fight, hosting a panel of climate experts in Sydney last spring and performing to 80K people there on Sept. 20th for School Strike for Climate. More recently, she’s been personally impacted by the fires, having to evacuate her home in NSW last week.
