Image by Nick Green / Artwork by Johnathan Zawada //

Following a four year hiatus since his Hi This Is Flume mixtape, international export Flume has thrust himself back into the spotlight this Thursday morning…

And he’s bringing some friends along for the ride, tapping local indie rock star MAY-A for his first single of 2022, titled ‘Say Nothing’.

The new single sees the Northern Beaches producer pay tribute to the glitchy chaos of 2018’s Hi This Is Flume, but with the melodies of his 2016 debut Skin rife throughout as he reaches a sonic midway between the two projects. MAY-A’s vocals collide with the production layers brilliantly as well, a highlight being her singing of the title lyric atop the warbly synths and percussion, her emotion maximising with each utterance as the sonics build beneath her.

The vide for the new offering furthers the immersion of the overall tune, mixing nature-focused visuals with elements of cyberpunk and surrealism. Frequent Flume collaborator and creative director of the video Johnathan Zawada fires on all cylinders in the clip, crafting his signature psychedelic animations juxtaposed with warped images of fauna along with Flume and MAY-A themselves. It all culminates at around three minutes in as strobe-heavy shots of MAY-A are interspersed with clips of Flume in full motorcycle garb, with plenty of nature-centric clips in between it all as the song reaches its inevitable crescendo.

Along with the new single, the Byron Bay-residing producer has also announced his upcoming album Palaces, which is set to land on May 20th. Speaking on the ominous name of the new record, Flume explains, “I called it Palaces because it felt like when I returned home… It felt like my palace. [I] felt like I had a lot of clarity, felt much more grounded, living a really simple life. That’s when all the music came together.”

The producer has already let slip the feature artists for the new project as well, with electro-starlet and frequent collaborator Kucka, Emma Louise, Caroline Polachek, Damon Albarn and plenty more all set to appear on the record.

No doubt the Flume fandom has been set alight by the new single and announcement, and just going off ‘Say Nothing’, we’re guessing Palaces is set to be in contention for album of the year. Be sure to buy/stream it here and pre-order Palaces here. For now, check out the full tracklisting below.

1. Highest Building (feat. Oklou)
2. Say Nothing (feat. MAY-A)
3. DHLC
4. ESCAPE (feat. Kučka) with Quiet Bison
5. I Can’t Tell (feat. LAUREL)
7. Get U
8. Jasper’s Song
9. Only Fans (feat. Virgen Maria)
10. Hollow (feat. Emma Louise)
11. Love Light
12. Sirens (feat. Caroline Polachek)
13. Go
14. Palaces (feat. Damon Albarn)