It’s official: Vance Joy is now part of the extended Shouse family.
The Aussie indie-folk singer and songwriter lends his vocals to “Wherever You Are”, the last surprise before Shouse’s Collective Ecstasy arrives in full next month.
Shouse is the trans-Tasman musical project of Jack Madin, a primary school teacher by day, and Ed Service, an arts community manager.
“Remember back to the love of your life,” Madin says of “Wherever You Are”. “The one you aren’t with now. The one you’ll remember forever. This song is for them.”
The electronic pairing recently completed their “Love Tonight” trilogy with the anthemic “Call My Name”, which scored radio support from Double J, NOVA 96.9, triple j, 2DayFM and more. Previously, the lads teamed up with Felix Jaehn for “Walk With Me”, a track that’s soaked-up over 500,000 Shazams in Europe, say reps.
With “Love Tonight”, Shouse bagged a slow-burner for the ages. OneLove general manager Ant Celestino got a headful when he caught “Love Tonight” on a night out in Melbourne back in May 2016.
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The wheels started turning for the track in early 2017, initially thanks to support from OneLove’s network of DJs. Then, DJ Solomun played a cut in 2018, Burning Man lit up with the track. DJs continued to support it, Triple J pushed it, kids Shazamed it.
Along its long and winding route, the song cracked the top 20 on the Official UK Singles Chart, peaking at No. 18 in 2021. Total streams of the track, including the David Guetta remix, are well north of one billion.
Shouse isn’t just a group. It’s a community. Speaking exclusively with Rolling Stone AU/NZ, Madin said a typical Shouse session “can kick off from anywhere — maybe one of us patching synths, and a few hours later there’s 12 people singing around some mics.”
The best sessions “are full of instruments and open mics, everything rolling, the beat never stopping. Big ideas come and go. Someone picks up a guitar or jumps on the mic and suddenly the room lifts.”
Count in Vance Joy.
“When I heard the song I immediately connected with it,” he enthuses. “When I sang it in the studio, it flowed out so purely. There’s a unique DNA and mood to the songs Shouse write. I’m a fan.”
Collective Ecstasy is Shouse’s debut album and is due out July 4th via Hell Beach / One Love.
