Bio : Bonobo

Fragments is the most emotionally intense record that Bonobo - aka Simon Green - has ever had to make. It’s no surprise that it’s also his masterpiece. The album features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, Jordan Rakei, O’Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation, the album ultimately was fused together in a burst of creativity fueled by both collaboration and Green’s escape into the wild.

Full of tension and release on both an intimate and an elemental scale, Fragments is truly a record for our times. But there were times when it felt it would never happen. Where previously Green had always written on the move, this time he had to fight to get it out, in isolation, as the world changed around him. He started to pull back into himself – and for the first time, crucially, he wasn’t writing new music as he traveled. He was also wrestling with feelings he found hard to express. But slowly, he found inspiration as he sought refuge in the great expanses of wild nature outside his adopted home of Los Angeles. “Finding the places that were alien and unique and awe inspiring.” His dive into modular synthesis, and collaboration with a wide array of artists brought the album into much sharper focus, notably Jamila Woods’ contribution to “Tides,” which quickly became the album’s centerpiece.

So Fragments is the sound of both struggle and isolation – personally and collectively – and of a surging, joyous return: a gorgeous reminder of how out of struggle and disillusionment, creativity and hope can emerge at the most unexpected moments.

Fragments hit #3 on Billboard’s Top Dance / Electronic Albums chart and #5 on the Official UK Albums Chart. He performed album highlights on his debut NPR Tiny Desk and additional coverage came from Pitchfork, SPIN, Zane Lowe, The Fader, Billboard and print magazine cover stories with DJ Mag and Electronic Musician. The album led NPR Music to rave, “the grooves cut so deep…it has so much life in it, it makes you want to move.” The Observer deemed it a “brilliant, wondrous work,” giving it 5 out of 5 stars

One of the biggest names in dance music, Green has earned five GRAMMY nominations and has worked with a wide range of artists including Erykah Badu and Jon Hopkins, and remixes for Gorillaz and Michael Kiwanuka.  By the time his 2022 Fragments tour will have concluded, he will have played for 750,000 fans. A favorite mainstage performer at the world’s greatest festivals and venues, Green’s recent touring highlights include four performances in just 24 hours at Glastonbury as well as the longest continuous run of performances for a solo musician, and the longest run ever for an electronic artist, at Royal Albert Hall. 

Green has also released a number of singles on his OUTLIER label, including recent single “ATK” as well as “Heartbreak,” made with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, which was nominated for a GRAMMY in 2021. 

Green’s previous album, 2017’s Migration, reached #1 on Billboard’s Dance album chart and hit Top Ten positions in several countries, including a top five at home in the UK.  Over 2 million fans attended the subsequent Migration tour.