A conversation needs friction to go anywhere interesting, and Radio Free Alice seem to understand that well. Ahead of their debut album What’s In Between, due on October 30 via Atlantic, the Australian group have released Big Ideas, a track that steps away from singular monologues in favor of a sharp two way exchange. To balance the ledger, they brought in Rachel Brown of Water From Your Eyes, whose distinct presence cuts straight through the domestic rubble laid out across the song.
Bringing in a second voice was never an afterthought for singer Noah Learmonth. From the early stages of writing, he wanted the song built around a clear call and response, pitting his narrator against someone who could challenge the perspective rather than quietly absorb it. Radio Free Alice had followed Water From Your Eyes for years and caught their live set in Melbourne, where Brown left an immediate impression. Learmonth found Brown to possess a voice both strange and compelling, which made reaching out an easy decision when the track demanded a worthy counterpart.
The tension between them fuels the writing from the first verse. Learmonth begins by picking through the wreckage of personal disappointment and domestic betrayal, turning over the realization that someone has slept with a coworker and wondering at what stage a person simply admits their ambitions have fallen apart. Everyday drudgery offers no relief either. In one line, he complains that being stuck in Melbourne selling reports feels far worse than being in hell. Brown enters to answer that bitterness directly, asking to be saved while invoking barbs in the eye and thorns in the side, eventually advising against grand illusions while belongings are gathered and boxed up.
These themes speak directly to the wider narrative Learmonth wanted to trace across What’s In Between. The singer has admitted to a longstanding soft spot for coming of age stories, pointing back to the films he watched during his youth. Throughout the record, the songs focus on the headspace of a dispossessed young person trying to make sense of drab compromises and small indignities. Big Ideas continues down the path established by the group's previous previews, Kick In The Shins and Crying For You, arriving alongside a video directed and edited by Owen Schatz that leans heavily into a scuffed nineties visual style.
The release lands in the middle of a busy touring stretch. Learmonth recently talked about the odd feeling of supporting Geese on Australian stages, describing the strange jump from tracking Cameron Winter on his phone screen to sharing green rooms and billings with the band. Radio Free Alice will soon be testing their own material abroad with a headline tour across the UK and mainland Europe throughout November.
The upcoming run opens on November 4 at Ideal Bar at Vega in Copenhagen, before heading into Germany for shows across Berlin, Hamburg, and Cologne. From there, the dates continue through Amsterdam, Brussels, and an initial evening in Paris at Point Ephémère on November 12. The UK and Ireland leg covers Bristol, Birmingham, London at the Electric Ballroom, Leeds, Manchester, Glasgow, Belfast, and Dublin, before closing out with appearances at Sidecar in Barcelona and a second stop in Paris on November 29. For audiences on that side of the world, it offers an immediate look at the debut record right as it surfaces.
