UK electropop four piece IS TROPICAL are set to release their third album Black Anything. Originally formed in 2009 as a trio- Dominic Apa, Gary Barber and Simon Milner– the band has now added vocalist Kirstie Fleck, who was featured on the 2013 track “Dancing Anymore.” Working alongside producer and collaborator Luke Smith (Foals, Depeche Mode), IS TROPICAL set out in the summer of 2014 to record across five continents; North America, Africa, Europe, Asia and South America.

The result, Black Anything, will be released in five 10” transparent picture disc installments, containing 2 tracks per vinyl. The artwork is a visual representation of both the recording process and the release with each 10 vinyl displaying the continent in which the tracks were recorded. The five vinyls when displayed on top of each other create the globe, unifying the concept as a whole with each vinyl existing as an art work and tribute to the continent it was recorded in. The band started the project in North America, building a studio during the label’s foundation in Brooklyn. The North American installment of Black Anything– ‘Crawl/On My Way‘ 10’ will be released December 8th, 2014 via the band’s new label NYC based Axis Mundi Records.

IS TROPICAL was a bedroom band formed by original line up Dominic Apa, Gary Barber and Simon Milner. Barber and Milner grew up together in their home-town of Bournemouth, Dorset before both moving to London in their early twenties; later in 2007 they met Apa and newest member Kirstie Fleck (singer of 2013’s Dancing Anymore) who joined the band full time in early 2014 and is now a permanent member of the band. The trio began making music in a squat in Peckham, South London which they also turned into an art gallery. The art gallery became a hub of creativity and was written about in Dazed and Confused magazine as the most important movement in the development of the South London art scene.

After years of practicing their art the trio decided to bunk up in a cold dark basement to start making music and IS TROPICAL was born, the name was used as a form of escapism linked to their ambition to travel the world. Further to the idea of escapism the band wanted keep an element of mystery towards themselves, the band took to wearing masks; “When we first started out we used to be more introverted. We’d face each other on stage and wear those veil-mask things. I think we wanted to keep the focus on our songs and that anonymity added a bit of theatricality to our live shows. It wasn’t like we were trying to be stand-offish with the audience. But people perceived it as arrogance.”

IS TROPICAL
Crawl/On My Way 10″ (Black Anything Part 1)
Out December 8th, 2014 via Axis Mundi Records

Tracklisting:
Crawl
On My Way