Australian ARIA award-winning duo, Jimmy Lyell and Hugo Gruzman, aka Flight Facilities today release their long-awaited, sophomore album, FOREVER, out now via Future Classic.
Despite individual progression and growth over the course of an illustrious decade-long career, FOREVER is an 11-track sequel to the magic that binds Jimmy and Hugo together: when Flight Facilities are in the studio making music for their beloved fanbase. From traversing early years as local club DJs to becoming an internationally acclaimed live act, the pair have plenty of cause to celebrate the monumental birthing of their second studio album. Right down to the artwork, and drawing from various moments in time and their era-defined sounds, FOREVER is a continuation of Down To Earth that deliberately gives as much back to the day-one fans as it does to Lyall and Gruzman themselves.
From endless adrenaline-fuelled rush hours in the studio, to demos on file since 2013, FOREVER is the culminating result of a playground coloured by experimentation. Working alongside longtime friend and collaborator, Jono Ma of Jagwar Ma, the creative partnership melded Jimmy and Hugo’s ideas together with a quintessential confluence of Flight Facilities’ timeless style and feeling. The duo called upon the legendary assistance of three powerhouse women and longtime featured Flight Facilities vocalists throughout the record’s making in Emma Louise, Georgia Nott and Caroline Smith, alongside other acts including Channel Tres, Broods, Your Smith, Love Mansuy, BRUX, DRAMA and Jordy Felix.
FOREVER opens to the band’s first single of 2021, in “Lights Up” which evoked a classical sense of West-Coast Californian cool thanks to guest vocalist, Channel Tres. A genre-defying philosophy at its core, the track became a representation of what lay next for the duo and most recently featured at Apple’s press conference unveiling the latest iPhone. Second track, “What I Want” is a Broods partnership initially meant for the New Zealand act’s album, with the vocals of Georgia Nott at its heart. However, the spacious pulsing disco-derived bassline and spiky synth line is unmistakably Flight Facilities in character. The next song to appear on FOREVER is the duo’s latest release, “Heavy”, which could very well be born from the writing sessions of “Crave You”. Its light and nostalgia-infused style of disco glitters with a finesse that only Jimmy and Hugo could master, in an irreverent show of respect for their early supporters. This morning, Hugo and Jimmy shared the music video for the track, starring Hugo Weaving and Rowan Dix (aka Joyride), beginning as a light hearted ice cream trip and growing with tension until the the final frame. First slipped into a 2017 Boiler Room set, next track “The Ghost” is an infectiously darker and heavily synthesised record that fast became a cult favourite in Flight Facilities’ live shows and now earns its permanent placement in their discography.
Next up, “Altitude” shows off the songwriting aptitudes the pair hold dearly to their chests. A beautifully scored love song starring the soul-derived vocals of New Jersey-raised artist, Love Mansuy and co-written by Jessica Higgs, “Altitude” twists and turns beneath delicate bowings of strings and echoed guitar pluckings. Following, “Wait & See” returns to a true and trusted partnership, with the vocals of BRUX, formerly Elizabeth Rose who appeared on 2013’s “I Didn’t Believe”. Melodically soaring, the track’s heartbeat-like bassline grounds BRUX’s earworm vocals as they push and pull with grand delicacy. Next to follow is the band’s most recent single “FOREVER” again starring New Zealand’s Broods. A playfully darting synth lies between Georgia Nott’s smokey-glass voice, adding a defiant and effortless slice of cool to any outdoor summer setting. Soon, “Move” appears as the duo’s previous single and assertive hit featuring the talents of Chicago-based duo, DRAMA. Producer Na’el Shehade and vocalist Via Rosa layer their silvery vocals against the song’s smooth dedication to the early days of the 1980s Chicago house music movement.
Three never before heard tracks close out FOREVER. First, is “Pain” featuring the vocals of rising Sydney singer-songwriter, Jordy Felix. A Sydney Conservatorium student, Felix reaches high notes with an impressive precision that renders butterflies and goosebumps amid analog sounds and fluttering percussion. Next, “Stay” keeps calm in time to a steady backbeat, while LA-based artist Your Smith adds a country-esque swagger to an otherwise dreamy love song. Final track, “If Only” is an unmissable swan song starring the core-splitting vocals of Emma Louise. A rising momentum of bird sounds, 80s twinkling pianos, choral singalongs and gnawing acid synths becomes a glistening finale of heart-wrenching euphoria that is undeniably both a Flight Facilities anthem and destined festival favourite, just shy of six minutes in length.
From their debut 2010 singles “Crave You” feat. Giselle Rosselli and “Foreign Language”, Flight Facilities have sold more than 100,000 tickets and accumulated over half a billion streams globally, and scored three ARIA nominations and gold certification for their debut album Down To Earth in 2014. The pair have seen eight Hottest 100 placings, an ARIA-Award for their 2015 live album Live With The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and widespread appreciation for their feel-good, dance floor beckoning tunes that have seen them collaborate with superstars and blazing up-and-comers alike, including Aloe Blacc, Kylie Minogue and Reggie Watts.
The duo’s worldwide audio-visual event this year, NEVER FOREVER offered Flight Facilities fans a one-time opportunity to hear unreleased music, demos & edits as part of an hour-long journey. To celebrate, the pair announced a series of NFTs, including offering one buyer the chance to own the only existing copy of their mixtape in the world. Already, the band’s existing FOREVER 2021 singles have received millions of cumulative streams and glowing support from international tastemakers including Zane Lowe, Annie Mac, Jason Bentley, Jack Saunders and more.
Recently Flight Facilities announced their mammoth album tour for 2022, which will see the pair on their way back home to tour the length and breadth of Australia. Presented by triple j, Hugo and Jimmy will take off across the country next March and April, sharing their highly anticipated sophomore album FOREVER in some of the country’s best outdoor venues with dates at Perth’s Red Hill Auditorium, Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Brisbane’s Riverstage, Hobart City Hall, Bonython Park in Adelaide, Darwin Amphitheatre and a personally curated event Airfields in Sydney’s Victoria Park on Saturday 19 March. With over 23,000 tickets already sold, don’t miss out on your chance to see Australia’s favourite high fliers next year. Kicking off this evening, the pair will join RÜFÜS DU SOL for three nights of sold out Los Angeles Banc of California shows, before they return in 2022 for their recently announced North American FOREVER tour.
One of Australia’s most cherished and era-defining acts in electronic music, Flight Facilities today throw open the doors to their next chapter, with a sequel and sophomore album FOREVER that’s determined to become a collector’s item of decade-defining achievements and future-nostalgia.
Contributing Writer
