AWOLNATION has released a new single and music video for “I Am Happy” featuring Del The Funky Homosapien, which follows the release of the singles “Panoramic View” and “Jump Sit Stand March” featuring Emily Armstrong. The tracks can be found on the recently announced upcoming new album, ‘The Phantom Five’, to be released August 30, 2024.
“I hit Del up through my relationship with Dan the Automator,” explains Aaron Bruno aka AWOLANTION on the collaboration. “Del goes, “Yeah, send it.” and I’m like, “What? Wow, okay. Here we go.” I sent Del the song’s structure similar to how it is now, but I left one verse longer so he could go as long as he wanted. He sent it back perfect. It was so cool to send him a song with this kind of chorus, about trying to find happiness in a bizarrely upside-down time.”
“I guess that’s the whole point of this record—addressing it, acknowledging it, seeing if it’s real, but also trying to make the best of it,” continues Bruno. “Del interpreted the lyrics about being happy out of your mind in the face of fear and nailed it. And what an honor. It’s basically like my Gorillaz song. I didn’t even put it together at the time but Del raps the phrase “Panoramic View” on the Gorillaz song “Clint Eastwood.” He’s a legend.”
‘The Phantom Five’ is a collection of ten songs that highlights every different impulse and urge Bruno has learned to master with AWOLNATION in a cohesive, anthemic pastiche of modern music. It functions almost as a “greatest hits” album, in the sense that it offers something for everyone who has followed the band’s arc in its celebrated, shape-shifting way. ‘The Phantom Five’ is concerned with trying to find one’s way to happiness in a bizarrely upside-down time.
