NEW ALBUM: Reb Fountain 'How Love Bends' + He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea Video
Reb Fountain opens the door of her new album to invite you into her exploration of love as she releases How Love Bends, with the feature track and video, ‘He Commands You to Jump Into The Sea’. Using her surrealist medium, Reb plays with the stories we tell ourselves and harnesses the sage wisdom of the dream as her audience gets lost within a landscape entirely of her making. Inviting audiences old and new, Reb and her band are taking the album on tour across Aotearoa this April and May and will be coming to Australian shores this September for an appearance at Mitchell Creek Festival.
Following in the steps of spoken word tradition of Jack Kerouac, Patti Smith, Leonard Cohen, Kae Tempest & Sleaford Mods, ‘He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea’ is a hypnotic and arresting testimony as Reb’s mesmerising words are seamlessly fused with her noir folk style. In an extraordinary feat, Reb Fountain reminds us of the power of the writer’s hand and the possibilities to disrupt and expand when one rests in the laurels of the familiar and envisages the surreal. With exploration and a spirit of resistance at the heart, we are invited into a dialogue of liberation, which is central to the new album.
Continuing the collaboration with her daughter, the music video was directed by Lola Fountain-Best and shot at Connells Bay on Waiheke Island. Weaving through iconic landscapes and surrounded by substantial artworks by some of Aotearoa New Zealand’s finest sculptors, Reb Fountain leads us on this path as a seeker, daring to uncover the lure of the almighty and explore and unravel the stories that we tell ourselves with the prospect of liberation on the horizon.
Watch 'He Commands You To Jump Into The Sea'
Believe it or not, How Love Bends is a positive record. For Reb, love is the tether that binds us all; love is a choice, a perspective; love is liberation. As love bends, so too has her music effortlessly evolved. Weaving through the material, Reb further reveals the expanse of her artistry; her palette is rich, complex, brazen and unapologetic.
"How I perceive the world and myself changes over time to the degree to which I am prepared to allow it to change. That’s so fucking liberating." - Reb Fountain
A consummate recording artist and performer, Reb Fountain has captivated audiences with her live performances, selling out shows across New Zealand in some of Aotearoa’s most iconic theatres, making her Australian live debut at Womadelaide, and has supported the likes of ‘Crowded House’ on their ‘To The Island’ NZ tour, Marlon Williams on his 2022 tour across UK and Europe, and will be supporting Paul Kelly across Aotearoa this September. Her music has seen her awarded the Taite Music Prize in 2021, Best Country Music Album in Aotearoa Music Awards, and an APRA Best Song Award, with her last LP Iris debuting at No. 1 on the NZ Charts, and recently being awarded ‘Best Original Score’ at the 2024 New Zealand Television Awards for ‘Escaping Utopia’ alongside Andrew Keoghan.
Don’t miss the opportunity to experience How Love Bends in all ways.
How Love Bends album is out Friday 7 March via The Orchard
Upcoming Australian Shows
Saturday 20 September
Mitchell Creek Festival, QLD
Tickets
How Love Bends Aotearoa Album Release Tour
April-May 2025
With special guest Pete Moriarity
Thursday 10 April Totara Street, Tauranga
Friday 11 April Dome Cinema, Gisborne
Saturday 12 April - Mtg Century Theatre, Napier
Thursday 17 April - Last Place, Hamilton
Saturday 19 April - Leigh Sawmill, Leigh
Friday 25 April - Grainstore Gallery, Oamaru
Saturday 26 April - Errick’s, Dunedin
Sunday 27 April - Sherwood, Queenstown
Thursday 1 May - The Church, Christchurch
Friday 2 May - Opera House, Wellington
Saturday 3 May - Town Hall, Auckland