Closure In Moscow
Australian party-prog rockers Closure in Moscow will bring their ‘Soft Hell’ album tour to Melbourne, Sydney & Brisbane with support from guitar hero HARTS & the legendary prog-pop of TOEHIDER.
After a sold out hometown launch in Melbourne last December, the band have spent most of 2024 touring overseas, with sold out shows across the USA, UK and Europe. These shows will be the first opportunity for Australian fans along the east coast to hear live performances of the new album material.
‘Soft Hell’ is the band’s third album and their first new album in 9 years, following Pink Lemonade (2014), First Temple (2009) and their debut EP ‘The Penance and the Patience’ (2008). Produced by Grammy-nominated and ARIA-Award winning producer Andrei Eremin, the record has already earned critical acclaim and accumulated over 1 million streams since its release in October. It debuted at #1 on the Australian 100% Independent Charts as well as #6 on the Australian Album ARIA Charts.
The band have spanned a wide range of genres across their releases – from post-hardcore and earnest punk rock, through to progressive rock, soul, funk, avante-garde, chiptune and experimental electronic rock
It is fitting then that this stacked tour lineup also features another two of the most exciting and eclectic Australian artists of the past 15 years: HARTS and TOEHIDER.
HARTS is the stage name of acclaimed Indian-born, Australian-based musician, singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and music producer Darren Hart.
Over the past 12 years, HARTS has established himself as one of Australia’s finest young musicians; composing, recording and producing studio albums, EPs with regular rotation on triple j radio. He also featured on the #2 voted triple j Like A Version of all time, playing guitar with Denzel Curry covering 'Bulls on Parade' by Rage Against The Machine, as well as collaborations with Lenny Kravitz, Questlove, Delta Goodrem, Peking Duk and more.
Harts has garnered constant comparison to musical icons Prince and Jimi Hendrix with his expansive explorations of funk, rock, jazz, blues and psychedelia. He was famously discovered and mentored by Prince and spent time jamming with the 'Purple Rain' superstar and his band at his home in Paisley Park. His soulful vocals and blistering guitar leads are a perfect match alongside the groove-laden alternative pop/rock of Closure in Moscow and prog rock of Toehider.
Harts will perform in his classic rock trio format, featuring material from across his career.
Of joining the tour, Harts said:
"Super excited to be joining Closure in Moscow on their headline shows in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane at the end of this month! It's been a while since I've hit the stage performing Harts sets, what a great way to start making a return. Huge thanks to the Closure in Moscow team for having me aboard. I can't wait to perform with you guys at these awesome venues"
TOEHIDER, fronted by uber-talented singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mills, is Australia’s most prolific prog artist, with over 30 releases since 2008. From prog metal to folk, alt rock to instrumental soundscapes, Toehider has done it all. Notably however, this tour will see Toehider celebrating the 10th anniversary of the seminal 2014 record ‘What Kind Of Creature Am I?’ by performing it in full for the first time ever at all 3 shows.
About Closure in Moscow’s Soft Hell:
“Soft Hell is a new level of dedication and execution for the band. It’s a damn near perfect blend of what fans want, what the band needs and what Closure in Moscow is capable of...the boys have once again proved they are masters of themselves and true innovators of their craft.” – Fecking Bahamas
“It’s incredible how well produced everything is…it sounds glorious and unbelievably cohesive…I’m here for all of it in its unrelenting glory.” – Everything Is Noise
“Their collection of fuzzy minded groove cuts make up for the year not spent playing air guitars on makeshift dance floors to their music.” – The Soundboard
About the new album, the band says:
It’s finally here for you, the last 9 years distilled down to 50 minutes. We’ve put blood, sweat and years into this, and fully believe when you hear these tracks, the wait will have been worth it. The new album is called “Soft Hell.” Getting comfortable with chronic discomfort caused by the choices that fears and trauma lead you to make. This is life in a soft hell. There are enough distractions to stave off facing up to it, you can keep yourself in denial to avoid it, and things can just keep ticking along. Life becomes a fever dream of creature comforts and time killers, floating further into a lake of fire. People come along to pull you out, but they too get burned when you feel too stuck to climb with them. Thank you to everyone that had been patiently waiting for new music. Everyone involved with working on this went so above and beyond because they believed in it, and we hope you hear what they heard too.
https://linktr.ee/closureinmoscow
Closure in Moscow posted about Harts joining them as well as news about their upcoming Brisbane show:
Hi everyone,
We're super excited to announce that the incredible HARTS will be joining us on our Australian shows later this month.
This dude has the groove in spades and we're grateful to him and his band for stepping in at short notice to join the tour. We've got some absolute shredders on this run, the lineup is stacked.
There's just 3 weeks to go until the tour gets rolling and we also want to mention that it's going to be our last ever show at The Zoo in Brisbane. The venue will be closing this July after 32 years of iconic Brisbane shows. Please make sure you get down to this one to help send it off with us.
Thanks for sticking with us over the past 9 years and more. We're working hard to make these the best Closure shows ever and hopefully there's much more to come.
PLEASE NOTE: THE DEAR HUNTER WILL NO LONGER BE ABLE TO PERFORM THEIR ORIGINALLY SCHEDULED PERFORMANCES DUE TO ILL HEALTH.