Indie seven-piece Vanilla Gorilla have released their first single since 2021 with Exhale – the first taste from their upcoming third album Home set for release on 27 February.
The album will be followed by a seven date East Coast tour, heading to the Solbar stage on the Sunshine Coast on Friday 14 March.
Exhale is a culmination of different stylistic influences from the band – with a strong reggae-flavoured rhythmic progression, the track weaves in and out of different expansive grooves that show off the band’s instrumental prowess.
Lyrically the track is about slowing down, and focusing on the important things in life – giving yourself time to breathe.
Jack Stanley from Vanilla Gorilla said, “I guess the message of this song is about believing there is something bigger at work in your life.”
“We are all part of nature and we tap into that in different ways. A reminder for the times when you get too inside your head and as a means to letting go of the mind states and patterns that are uncomfortable. I was always taught growing up that when things get overwhelming or too much, to slow down and take some deep breaths. I live my life by that.”
Recorded at the band’s home by Kelton Lee, the album was then mixed by producer Jack Nigro (Pacific Avenue, Rum Jungle, The Terrys) and mastered by Darren Ziesling (Lime Cordiale, The Buoys, Ziggy Ramo).
The writing on ‘Exhale’ and the rest of the upcoming record saw the band reconnect personally – all making a conscious effort to spend time together in their home town, and surround themselves with other local creatives for each element of the project.
Isaac Thompson said, “After returning from hiatus we all really wanted to get back in-touch with our roots and spend most of our time hanging out around home together.”
“Living in a small rural town has always been a limitation for collaborating on projects but we’ve been blessed this time to be surrounded by a bunch of creative mates that’ve been helpin’ us with the recording, album art, posters, filming footage and making an upcoming interview. The idea of everything being done locally is what drew us to naming the album Home.”
The track is accompanied by a music video featuring the band in their home of Bungwahl – an intimate glimpse into the band’s laid back, coastal lifestyle.
“We had a lot of fun filming the video clip for Exhale,” Isaac said.
“The idea behind it was to have it in keeping with the theme of our upcoming Album Home.
“It’s mostly just a montage of some of the shenanigans we’ve been getting up to while in the process of recording the upcoming album.
“The live footage from the video clip was filmed at our local community hall. A open mic night/50th birthday party turned into a local pre release album debut with the band playing the new album for friends and family.”
Vanilla Gorilla have built a significant cult following over the years, and although the band haven’t released music since 2021 – their fans have not stopped listening since.
They finished 2024 with 807k monthly listeners on Spotify and a total of 4.69 million streams; as well as 40k monthly plays, 1000 average daily listeners and 650 Shazams on Apple Music – all without a single recent release. The band have over 33 million streams across their discography, and currently have over 12k followers on socials.
The band have previously played alongside Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, The Vanns and Radio Moscow; have made appearances at Weasel Stock Festival, Spaced Out Festival, The Rolling Sets Festival, Elpalmo Pacificano, and were the winners of triple J Unearthed’s competition to open up FOTSUN back in 2018.
With new music and their upcoming east-coast tour in tow, 2025 is already shaping up to be a mammoth year for Vanilla Gorilla.
