We’re glad to announce that Paris, France- and Los Angeles, United States-based duo Antisolar have released a new single, entitled “You Resurrect Me.”
Antisolar is Olivier Raynal (based in Paris) and Andrew Doolittle (based in Los Angeles), who met in 2005 when a mutual friend invited Andrew to drop by a recording session for Olivier’s previous band, Stripped Polaris. Over the next couple of months, Andrew contributed guitars to a couple tracks on the Stripped Polaris record and helped to assemble and direct backing musicians for the band’s shows in L.A. and Paris.
The international duo have since sustained their friendship and musical partnership for almost two decades (despite living over 5,500 miles apart), while their individual careers have blossomed: Olivier as an actor for film and television (La Légende, the Crown), theatre (Fool for Love, for which he won Best Actor in a Leading Role at the London GFCA and Avignon Film Festival) and voice (Campaigns for Diesel and Mercedes-Benz), and Andrew as a guitarist and sometimes musical director for artists including Rita Wilson, Idina Menzel and David Tao (陶喆). Through it all, they’ve collaborated to write music remotely, and when their travel schedules created opportunities to meet up for a couple days, in person. Their new band, Antisolar, is the vehicle for sharing the music they’ve written together over the years.
“You Resurrect Me”, the third single from Antisolar, is an anthemic rocker with some electronic flair mixed in. The song captures the despondency and the sense of being directionless that can stem from broken relationships, as well as the healing and rebirth found in new ones. “You Resurrect Me” is deeply personal for Olivier, who says, “I’d gone from being an actor and having recorded an album that I was proud of to tending bar in a pub. I’d also recently returned from abroad and watched a relationship end. In time the wounds began to mend but the dreams I once had were dead. I only wanted to collect a paycheck and numb myself. Work…sleep…work… sleep. I didn’t have a shred of creativity left in me. Then one day I saw a girl with beautiful blond curls and an incredible laugh, and something inside me sparked. I began retracing my recent years and the emotional events that defined them. I imagined that I was on a small boat navigating through the night, and then that I was arriving on shores at sunrise. This beautiful creature had me dreaming again and creating again. She resurrected me. This song became an anthem for a period in my life when I thought all was lost. It’s the song that made me face the disappointing turns my life had taken and helped me believe brighter days were ahead.”
In the midst of his own heartbreak, Olivier managed to find rich language to capture his loss of direction (“Damned by the Southern Cross/ Betrayed by north, my bearings lost”) and despondency (“Limping in and falling out, backing bottles through the night”). “You Resurrect Me” was completed during writing sessions in Paris and Houston and was recorded in L.A.. The song follows Antisolar’s “Awake“, an uplifting anthem that celebrates optimism despite our world’s ever-pervasive conflict and confusion, and “Do We Tremble At Night?“, which ponders what we’ll be left with if we allow the world around us to be destroyed, and whether our fears can motivate us to change the world for the better.
Further detailing the meaning behind “You Resurrect Me,” Olivier writes, “Here we have a story of a breakup with a girl from Down Under and the feeling of having lost all meaning, all sense of direction. ‘Damned by the Southern Cross, betrayed by North, my bearings lost’ directly addresses this feeling. The chorus is meant to bring the listener into the composer’s anguish until…. ‘And as I drown…. You Resurrect Me’ This is the exhale. The moment of salvation when love comes again and all the previous angst is lost to a mere memory. Another cool exclusive tidbit: the Southern Cross constellation is buried in the cover art, though it’s reversed, as though being viewed from the other side of the galaxy!”
For first-time listeners, Olivier says, “As a general note to Antisolar new listeners: You can expect a rich journey into sound and melody-driven by stories that are usually rooted in the struggles stemming from the human condition, most often rooted in our own experiences. Despite the source material sometimes being born from heartaches, confusion, fear, and despondency, the songs aim to convey optimism and even joy. The music aims to transport you, be it to speeding down a straight open highway in the desert with the top down, or to a place of quiet contemplation in nature.”
“You Resurrect Me” immediately draws the listener in with driving rhythms punctuated by bright, echoing synth notes, while deep bass and distorted electric guitar chords create an expansive, texturally vibrant sound. During the first verse, Olivier Raynal’s compelling vocals harmonize well with the ethereal synths and bass; while during the anthemic chorus, the distorted guitars return to underscore the track’s powerful lyrics. A wah-laden guitar subtly highlights the second verse while adding to the track’s dynamic atmosphere, leading nicely into the second chorus. After an impressive guitar solo, the final chorus then continues for the remainder of the track, as soaring guitar leads create an uplifting effect that complements the inspiring vocals and lyrics quite well. “You Resurrect Me” is quite an enjoyable listen throughout, showcasing Antisolar’s brilliant songwriting and superb musicianship; I would highly recommend this track to fans of alternative rock.
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You can obviously find it in the following Playlists: Less Than 1,000 Followers, Fresh Singles, Alterindie State Of Mind, Debut Bands (Off The Radar), and Sickest & Dopest.
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