Created between Palm Springs, California and Hilo, Hawai'i, 'V' is the first double album from the Hawaiian-New Zealand singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Ruban Nielson's Unknown Mortal Orchestra band. Designed to play as one continuous movement and road-tested on dry California freeways, 'V' is the definitive Unknown Mortal Orchestra car record. It's also the fifth full-length album Ruban has released in twelve years. Across fourteen sunbleached songs - written solo or with his brother Kody - Ruban draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, yacht rock, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Over a laidback blend of singalong anthems and cinematic instrumentals, he evokes blue skies, afternoons spent lounging by hotel swimming pools and the alluring darkness that lurks below perfect, pristine surfaces. It's a duality expressed in the dilapidated sunset blues and the salt-corroded soul Ruban explores through tracks like 'Layla' and 'Nadja'.
Track Listing:
1. The Garden - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
2. Guilty Pleasures - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
3. Meshuggah - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
4. The Widow - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
5. In the Rear View - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
6. That Life - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
7. Layla - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
8. Shin Ramyun - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
9. Weekend Run - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
10. The Beach - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
11. Nadja - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
12. Keaukaha - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
13. I Killed Captain Cook - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
14. Drag - Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Year of Production: 2023
