Bonobo Shares Music Video for “Shadows” From Just-Released & Widely Celebrated New Album Fragments (Ninja Tune)
Watch Here
"The grooves cut so deep…it has so much life in it, it makes you want to move" - NPR Music
“[A] brilliant, wondrous work” - Observer, 5 out of 5 stars
40+ Date Full Band International Tour Launches February 18
January 19, 2022 - Bonobo (aka Simon Green) has released the music video for “Shadows,” from his just-released and widely celebrated new album Fragments (Ninja Tune). Fragments has hit #1 on the iTunes Albums Chart on both the main chart and electronic charts in the UK, is Top 10 on the main albums chart in the US and hit #1 on the electronic albums chart in 23 territories including the US. The album is also currently at number 2 in the UK Official Album Chart Midweeks with the final Chart set to land this Friday. A 40+ date, full band international tour will also launch in just under a month, beginning February 18 in Nashville. See below for the full itinerary.
Watch the video for “Shadows” https://bonobo.lnk.to/shadowsPR. The song, which features Jordan Rakei, is described by Green as "old school, Detroity, Moodymann and Theo Parrish-inspired.” The twitching, flickering video captures the song’s mysterious energy, and was directed by BWTV.
“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.” Carl Sandburg
"Shadows are reflections of ourselves, our movements, whims, wants and urges. Like memories happening in the present; like scars that leave no mark. They are a creeping measure of passing moments: alive, immediate and fleeting. They stretch and bend to the world around them and they thicken and fade as the days roll on. We wanted to make a video that meditates on these ideas; using found captured and created material to investigate the patterns and visual metaphors that emerge as we experimented with the footage. Using the emotional language of the shadow we began to build sequences and patterns reminiscent of how one might compose a multitrack piece of music. Layers, lots of layers." - BWTV
Fragments also features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, O’Flynn, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson.
The album has earned a tremendous range of rave reviews in the US, UK and beyond. Green has offered deep dives into the process of making Fragments - and the struggle to find creative inspiration while the world stood still - in interviews that have run in the past week including The Fader Interview, Billboard and WNYC, plus coverage from NPR Music, Pitchfork, SPIN, Zane Lowe, Spotify’s Best Electronic Songs of 2021 and cover stories with DJ Mag and Electronic Musician. The release also arrives on the heels of two 2022 GRAMMY Nominations that Green earned in the Best Dance/Electronic Recording category last month, making him a five-time GRAMMY nominee.
Fragments is the sound of struggle and isolation, personally and collectively - and of a surging, joyous return. It is a reminder that out of struggle and disillusionment, creativity and hope can emerge at the most unexpected moments. As he set out to make his new album, Green felt a sense of shifting and unraveling of the world around him. Born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation in his Los Angeles studio in 2020 and 2021, the album ultimately was fused together in a burst of creativity fueled by collaboration, Green’s solo adventures into the deserts of California and even his use of modular synths for the first time.
Praise for Fragments
"The grooves cut so deep…it has so much life in it, it makes you want to move"- NPR Music
“[A] brilliant, wondrous work” - Guardian, 5 out of 5 stars
“An enveloping excursion through jazz, downtempo, and Detroit techno” - The Fader
"His most engaging [album] in a decade: soothing, energetic and just right for the current moment...richly rewarding" - NME (4/5)
“An organic warmth flows like an ocean through Fragments. Green is undeniably in a league of his own” - Loud and Quiet (8/10)
“Recalling the powerful, orchestrated cloudbursts of Curtis Mayfield's solo debut... Green's production is expert” - Mojo (4/5)
“A work of subtle evolution, it’s a record that rewards repeated listens, with patience allowing these fresh elements to rise to the surface on an album that underlines Bonobo’s role as one of UK electronic music’s most consistent, and pervasive voices” - Clash (8/10)
“‘Rosewood’ captures the essence of the dance floor, and the morning after the party, too. The beat builds to something that demands you to move...from one of the most celebrated producers of the last two decades” - Billboard
"Feels like floating blissfully in the sky" - Uproxx, on “From You”
“A winning combination” - Uncut
“A masterpiece in wistful, cathartic electronica” - Skinny (5/5)
“Brilliant…his best album to date” - This Song Is Sick
“Just the right balance of lush and gritty” - AllMusic
“This is an album that should be on repeat the rest of the winter and year" - Magnetic Mag
FRAGMENTS LIVE TOUR DATES - 2022
North America
18-Feb: Wildhorse Saloon, Nashville, TN
19-Feb: PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation, Newport, KY
20-Feb: KEMBA Live!, Columbus, OH
21-Feb: Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA
23-Feb: College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT
25-Feb: Great Hall at Avant Gardner, Brooklyn, NY
27-Feb: Royale, Boston, MA
28-Feb: Echostage, Washington, DC
02-Mar: Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA
04-Mar: ANTHOLOGY, Rochester, NY
05-Mar: Higher Ground, Burlington, VT
06-Mar: MTELUS, Montreal, QC
09-Mar: HISTORY, Toronto, ON
10-Mar: Royal Oak Music Hall, Royal Oak, MI
11-Mar: Byline Bank Aragon Ballroom, Chicago, IL
12-Mar: The Sylvee, Madison, WI
13-Mar: Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI
15-Mar: The Palace, Minneapolis, MN
17-Mar: Mission Ballroom, Denver, CO
18-Mar: The Complex, Salt Lake City, UT
19-Mar: Knitting Factory, Boise, ID
21-Mar: PNE Forum, Vancouver, BC
22-Mar: Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
23-Mar: McDonald Theatre, Eugene, OR
24-Mar: Roseland Theater, Portland, OR
Europe/UK:
20-Apr: AFAS Live, Amsterdam, NL
21-Apr: edel-optics.de Arena, Hamburg, DE
23- Apr: UFO im Velodrom, Berlin, De
24-Apr: Palladium, Cologne, De
25-Apr: TonHalle, Munich, De
26-Apr: Xtra, Zurich, CH
28-Apr: Le Centquatre, Paris, FR
29-Apr: Le Centquatre, Paris, FR
03-May: The Brighton Centre, Brighton, UK
04-May: O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
06-May: Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, UK
07-May: O2 Academy, Leeds, UK
08-May: Rock City, Nottingham, UK
16-May: Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
17-May: Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
18-May: Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
19-May: Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
10-Jun: Maifeld Derby, Mannheim, DE
17-Jun: Sónar by Night, Barcelona, ES
01-Sep: Cala Mijas, Mijas, ES