Cleopatrick Announce Sophomore Album ‘Fake Moon’ out March 15th

Like gravity pulling them towards their most experiential phase yet, cleopatrick’s sophomore album FAKE MOON is a record spanning time, influence, and sound. Transporting the listener to the outer limits of an unexpected place, it is the moment Luke Gruntz (vocals, guitar, production) and Ian Fraser (drums, production) boldly shake off the abrasive hooks of their journey so far, for a contemplative collage of sound which reflects, resets, and rebalances in one small step for post-rock and one giant leap for humankind. “It’s more than just a change sonically,” Luke reveals. “The album instinctively paints a picture of something meaningful; all the songs ask questions or surrender to uncertainty.” Working with producer Philip Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker/Hand Habits/Tomberlin) and respected guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Haldeman at Weinrobe’s Brooklyn studio, the sessions for FAKE MOON mark the first time the band expanded their existing creative bubble, helping to drive the growth in their sonic palette and songwriting.

New track ‘PLEASE’ is a love song about the implicit magnetic pull of groupthink and the immense comfort that comes with forfeiting one’s individuality to belong to a team.
Speaking on the single and the Ryan Faist-directed music video, Luke says, ‘PLEASE” is about the implicit forces that pull us to belong. It’s about the comforting and consuming magnetism of the collective. It’s kind of a love song. An acknowledgement and acceptance of something fundamental.

There’s a gradual surrender and slow unraveling in the recording — like the sound itself is
subject to the same cosmic pull I’m singing about. By the end of the track, all the instruments
are being torn apart digitally. Phil (Weinrobe) had almost the entire mix running through an old Roland 303 sampler that mangled the audio into this beautiful, slushy mess of missing
information and usurped data. and so the concept loops back on itself eternally. I like to call this sound “LAPTOP ROCK”.

The video was shot by our friend and longtime collaborator Ryan Faist AKA boywonder. We
wanted the video to look like a scene from a movie, more than a music video. The video shows a young guy experiencing the pull of the collective.’

Returning refreshed from a creative breather, after the rigorous post-pandemic tour of debut LP BUMMER more than made up for missed out living, the newest record on their own Nowhere Special Recordings may be packaged differently but within their distinctive fuzz, its DNA is still the same. “We’re just being honest, and trusting our creative compass,” the band says. “The format we’d gotten used to started to feel like wearing a costume, this muscle memory of rinse and repeat. When it came to making another record, everything felt distant; we’d grown up and moved on but Covid had held us in that place of being kids who’d started a band, for longer… we can’t do the Peter Pan album release cycle, that’s a recipe to feel like a total phony.”

Embarking upon a post-rock voyage with hip-hop and lo-fi folk baked in, FAKE MOON takes
cleopatrick closer to their influences than ever before; perhaps you’ll hear magical songwriting and production akin to their playlist staples Radiohead, glints of Dijon’s surreal but grounded Absolutely, the sonic confidence of Mk.gee shimmering through, or the fret squeaks of favorites since high school, Califone. With time to catch up on their listening, and space for bigger picture thinking in response to imposing government rule, Luke’s curiosity around misinformation and conspiracy grew. Beckoned into a black hole of spectacular internet theories, magical speculation, and bizarre conversations, he happened upon a YouTube video debunking ‘the best phone for astrophotography’ which exposed how its filter technology could transform even a lamp light into a lunar landscape. “The fake moon idea kept resurfacing,” Luke recalls. “It symbolizes how every human sees the same object in the sky but the way information flows, how humans are, and how the world works means we’ll never see it the same way.”

The band have also announced a UK & IE headline tour for March where they will take to the stage in Brighton, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Dublin, Glasgow, Leeds, Birmingham and play their biggest London show to date at Electric Brixton. Newly energised, Cleopatrick are ready to head back out, not only sharing what they have been up to in the studio, but also re-interpreting the music fans have come to love over the past few years.

Since their inception, cleopatrick have proven themselves to be one of the most in-demand
rising rock bands on the planet. They were the only band picked for Amazon Music UK
Ones To Watch 2021, and have amassed over 100 million streams alongside multiple
sell-out tours in the UK, EU and US, performed at festivals ranging from Lollapalooza and
Reading & Leeds, and served as direct support to Royal Blood and Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes.

Cleopatrick’s gargantuan debut album ‘BUMMER’ received critical acclaim across the board
from the likes of The Guardian, The Independent, MTV UK, DIY, Kerrang, Rock Sound,
Dork and Upset. The band were also chosen as BBC Radio 1’s first ever Future Artist,
with regular plays on air from tastemakers Annie Mac, Jack Saunders and Daniel P.
Carter. The album also earned the duo their very first JUNO nomination for ‘Breakthrough
Group of the Year’ at the 2022 JUNO Awards.