Following the sold out live debut of their forthcoming second album, Gold Coast (Yugambeh/Kombumerri)-based six-piece band Selve have shared another side of the record with the release of their latest single 'Strange Romance' and impending Breaking Into Heaven album tour.
Selve is comprised of Jabirr Jabirr man Loki Liddle (lead vocals/guitar), Anaiwan man Reece Bowden (lead guitar), Creation Saffigna (vocals), Michael Baldi (drums), Scott French (bass guitar) and Liam Kirk (keyboard).
The band are close friends who have continued to assert themselves as a formidable force of easy creative chemistry, known for brewing musical soup of sounds, cinematic aesthetics, characters and themes thanks to a shared curiosity, disparate influences and the freedom to "paint however they like with their instrument", each continually expanding their scope via outside projects across poetry, acting, visual arts, sound design and crafts.
Led Jabirr Jabirr man Loki Liddle, the band has achieved an incredible amount in the past year alone, having toured Australia in their 12-show Red Desert Dream Tour, the EU/UK in their World Wide Wave Tour and spending three months across Broome, France and London writing and recording 'Breaking Into Heaven'.
Inspired by the band's time in Berlin, Selve's new single 'Strange Romance' casts a moody, infectious dance spell; contrasting the hyper-camp 'Loki Horror Picture Show' and the roaring rock of the album's title track and lead single as the band intentionally "keep people guessing".
"Strange Romance is an interstellar voyage that takes the animal within on a trip to outer space," Liddle said.
"We wanted to showcase the depth and dimension that comes from the great legacy of First Nations dance.
"Inspired by our time flying around the world in the creation of this album, from Broome to France, London to Berlin and back, we strove to really just make a super badass EDM rock banger that communicated the electrifying experiencing that we were having, with the goal of spreading that feeling like wildfire.
"Dance has been at the heart of our communities since time immemorial, so it seemed only natural to wed the song to it, and hand this one largely over to the incredible Karul Projects - who we were lucky enough to work with again - to conjure the spine tingling magic that the song called for, and take it 10 levels further."
Breaking Into Heaven, the first full-length album to ever be recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios by an Aboriginal artist, is anchored and inspired by Nina Simone's words that "the people who built their heaven on your land, are telling you that yours is in the sky" , a powerful testament of First Nations stories, music and culture.
Breaking Into Heaven is a high-theatre showcase of punk/post-punk and rock, indie-pop, new-wave, psych and beyond, self-produced by the band's Scott French with trusted collaborator film & TV composer Simon Benesch (of French techno-rock band FAIRE), recorded with Abbey Road studio engineer Thomas Briggs (Little Simz, Sam Fender, Kojey Radical), and mastered by Matt Colton (Fontaines D.C., The Cure, Foals).
The album continues Selve's exploration of the characters and themes found across their past releases and Liddle's own forthcoming poetry work Damn Good Television, which is set to be released in 2026.
The first demos were inspired by trips to Liddle's Jabirr Jabirr Country.
"Gave the record its soul - taking the embers of songs sparked on my Jabirr Jabirr Country and recording that at Abbey Road, this amazing ideal and root of Rock N Roll mythology: a reclamation, reimaging and subversion of that ideal through an inspired First Nations lens has taken place," Liddle said.
Completing tours around their debut album Red Desert Dream and the World Wide Wave EP last year - nationally and in the EU/UK - Selve recently cemented their immersive, spectacularly wild and engaging live reputation via their exclusive live pre-album release spectacular at HOTA, Home of the Arts which saw the band perform Breaking Into Heaven live in full for the first time, alongside the 33-piece Australian Session Orchestra.
SELVE - Breaking into Heaven album tour and live dates
Thursday 14 Aug - Mo's Desert Clubhouse - Gold Coast, Yugambeh Country QLD
Friday 26 Sep - Princess Theatre - Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal & Jagera Country QLD
Saturday 27 Sep - Gloucester Country Club - Gloucester, Guringai Watoo & Kabook Country NSW
Thursday 2 Oct - The Lass O'Gowrie Hotel - Mulubinba/Newcastle, Awabakal & Worimi Country NSW
Saturday 4 Oct - Vic On The Park - Eora/Sydney, Gadigal Country NSW
Friday 10 Oct - Felons Barrel Hall - Meanjin/Brisbane, Turrbal & Jagera Country QLD
Saturday 11 Oct - Mo's Desert Clubhouse 6th Birthday - Gold Coast, Yugambeh Country QLD
Friday 7 Nov - Lulie Tavern - Naarm/Melbourne, Wurundjeri Country VIC
Friday 14 Nov - Elsewhere - Gold Coast, Yugambeh Country QLD
This project has been supported by the Queensland and Australian Government through Arts Queensland and Creative Australia.
Selve - Breaking Into Heaven releases independently on Friday September 12.
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