Following the release of the first four installments of ‘Black Anything,’ IS TROPICAL released the final installment, ‘Believe/What You Want’ via the band’s new label NYC based Axis Mundi Records in March 2016. What You Want was recorded at the tail end of an extremely ambitious and far reaching project that saw them travel the world, this heart-felt breakdown perfectly completes a tiring yet entirely rewarded process.
After working with Gary Barber on a short Mystery Jets documentary, film maker William Kennedy did just that and set his traveling memories to the track to create an emotive visual to accompany the song. Of the video, Kennedy says, “I made this film at a turning point in my life. I met someone and I dropped everything to be with her, thousands of miles from home. This was my way of coming to terms with the past and allowing myself to be happy.” Watch the video for What You Want via YouTube below.
IS TROPICAL have just returned home from a tour that has taken them around Europe, the US, a stop in the Moroccan desert to film the video for Follow the Sun, Lebanon and Turkey. They’ll continue on to Ukraine (Hedonism Festival 29 Jul), Latvia (Piena Svētki 7 Aug) and London (Hackney Wonderland 15 Oct) with more dates to be announced soon – check istropical.com for updates.
IS TROPICAL released their third album ‘Black Anything’ in March. Originally formed in 2009 as a trio- Dominic Apa, Gary Barber and Simon Milner- the band has now added vocalist Kirstie Fleck, who was featured on the 2013 track Dancing Anymore. Working alongside producer and collaborator Luke Smith (Foals, Depeche Mode), IS TROPICAL set out in the summer of 2014 to record across five continents; North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.
The result, Black Anything, was released in five 10” transparent picture disc installments, containing 2 tracks per vinyl. The artwork is a visual representation of both the recording process and the release with each 10 vinyl displaying the continent in which the tracks were recorded. The five vinyls when displayed on top of each other create the globe, unifying the concept as a whole with each vinyl existing as an art work and tribute to the continent it was recorded in. The band started the project in North America, building a studio during the label’s foundation in Brooklyn.
