Cassius have confirmed details of their first album in ten years, ‘Ibifornia’, which will be released on June 24th via Polydor/Interscope Records. Two new songs debuting today – ‘Go Up’ (featuring Cat Power and Pharrell Williams) and ‘The Missing’ (featuring Ryan Tedder & Jaw) – are available immediately when pre-ordering the album, alongside the full-length version of surprise recent track, ‘Action’; which premiered as Annie Mac’s Hottest Record in the World on Radio 1, and has since picked up support across Radio 1, 6Music, Spotify and Beats 1.
It’s important to start with the title, because that’s what Cassius did. Before Zdar and Boombass began working in earnest on their latest album, they decided it would be called ‘Ibifornia’ A portmanteau of Ibiza and California, Ibifornia is an imaginary utopia which, they say, is “inside every one of us”. Once they had dreamed up a location, they could set about giving it a soundtrack. The result is a panoramic extravaganza of disco, funk, house, soul, afrobeat, synth-pop, psychedelia, hip hop and gospel. Though it’s more a feeling, rather than a specific sound – generous, optimistic, and emotional – ‘Ibifornia’ is also the culmination of a lifetime of ideas.
The two new songs premiering today extend – Zdar commented recently – “the Cassius and the Family Stone” tone to ‘Ibifornia’, which features an all-star cast of long-term collaborators and friends. Joining Cat Power on the hypnotic house anthem ‘Go Up’ is Pharrell Williams, who worked with the band on the 2006 track ‘Eye Water’ (none of them felt it had fulfilled its potential, so Pharell texted them to suggest that they work together again). OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder guests on ‘The Missing’, the jubilant blue-eyed soul romp that welcomes the listener to the strange, joyous world of ‘Ibifornia’.
Cassius’ story thus far is already the stuff of dance music mythology. They emerged amidst Paris’ defining French Touch movement, where the likes of ‘Feeling For You’, ‘1999’ and ‘The Sound of Violence’ – alongside friends such as Daft Punk – helped shape the future of electronic music. It was an intimate scene which always proved conducive to collaboration, and soon provided the band with distractions on a global scale: Zdar has become a Grammy-award winning producer and mixer for his work on seminal albums from Phoenix, Kindness, Bloc Party, Chromeo, and ‘Ibifornia’ collaborators Cat Power, Beastie Boys and Pharrell Williams. Yet as the influence of French house was felt further still in recent years – Kanye West and Jay Z even sampled the band on their ‘Watch The Throne’ project – it always came back to the dance-floor, to club-culture, and to Cassius: the long-standing friendship between Zdar and Boombass who continued to write, perform and bide their time in assembling this stunning new record.
IBIFORNIA:
1. The Missing ft. Ryan Tedder & Jaw
2. Love Parade ft. Mike D
3. Action ft. Cat Power & Mike D
4. Go Up ft. Cat Power & Pharell Williams
5. Ibifornia
6. Hey You ft. Ryan Tedder
7. Feel Like Me ft. Cat Power
8. Blue Jean Smile ft. John Gourley of “Portugal. The Man”
9. The Sound Of Love ft. Jaw
10. Ponce
