Confidence Man have formally announced their third studio album 3AM (La La La), which is set for release on Friday October 18th via I OH YOU. It serves as the follow-up to their 2022 album TILT, and was recorded at London’s Pony Studios with the production team of Reggie Goodchild (AKA keyboardist Lewis Stephenson), Ghost Culture’s James Greenwood and Mark Ralph.
“We pretty much wrote every single song when we were wrecked,” said the group’s co-frontperson Grace Stephenson – AKA Janet Planet – about the new album. “We’d get blasted and stay up till 9am coming up with music, but we noticed that 3am was the hottest time for when we were on it and the best ideas were coming out.”
To coincide with the album’s announcement, the band have released its lead single ‘I Can’t Lose You’. The accompanying music video, directed by Zac Dov Wiesel, sees Planet and co-frontperson Aidan Moore (AKA Sugar Bones) riding in a helicopter over London’s CBD while completely naked.
Confidence Man – ‘I Can’t Lose You’
Moore, for his part, has noted several key influences for the band on their third album – including The Prodigy, Groove Armada and Underworld. “All those classic UK rave acts have always been popular in Australia,” he said. “The Prodigy were my favourite band growing up when I was in my early teens.”
Planet, too, also notes the influence of The KLF – the “la la la” in the album’s brackets allude to the hook of the group’s signature song ‘3AM Eternal’. The band met former member Jimmy Cauty while on tour in the UK: “I don’t think he’d been to a gig in 25 years, and he came to see us at the Roundhouse in London,” Planet said. “He’s been mentoring us a bit ever since.”
Since the release of TILT, Confidence Man have remained active. They released the RE-TILT remix EP in September 2022, which included a remix of ‘Holiday’ by Tame Impala and collaborations with CHAI and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. They also went on triple j‘s Like A Version segment and performed a cover of Bryan Adams‘ ‘Heaven’, largely inspired by the 2000s dance version by DJ Sammy.
In 2023, the group collaborated with Daniel Avery on the single ‘On & On (Again)’ and with DJ Seinfeld on the track ‘Now U Do’. They also released a stand-alone single, entitled ‘Firebreak’, which does not appear on 3AM (La La La). Many of the group’s 2023 collaborations and remixes were compiled on the EP ConMan Club Classic Vol. 1, which was released last month.
3AM (La La La) can be pre-saved and pre-ordered ahead of its October release here.
Further Reading
Nominees Announced For The 2024 AIR Awards
Beyond the Valley 2022/23 Review – An All-Star Lineup and a Logistical Learning Curve