808s & GREATEST HITS SHARES SOPHOMORE ALBUM GREATEST HITS II

Today 808s & Greatest Hits share their much anticipated second album Greatest Hits II. The musical project of Skube Burnell and his many collaborators, 808s & Greatest Hits continue to spin the wheels of experimentation in the follow up to their debut album Cabin Vibes which was released in late 2019. Greatest Hits II is out today Friday 11th of December 2020 on limited edition cassette and digital services via Our Golden Friend.

LISTEN TO GREATEST HITS II HERE

Burnell begun working on the new album in late 2019 whilst recording and mixing previous release Cabin Vibes. The album started as an eclectic suite of 16 songs written by Skube that were eventually honed and whittled down to a tidy selection of 8 - crafted, mutated and reworked to evolve into its final form - Greatest Hits II. As opposed to the solo recording process of Cabin Vibes, 808s & Greatest Hits enlisted the help of producer, engineer and all round good guy / musical virtuoso Dylan Young (Way Dynamic, Snowy Band, Emma Russack, Cool Sounds) to help shape the new album.

Early stages of recording took place between Skube and Dylan’s homes with Dylan serving as the primary producer and engineer on the tracks with John Lee from Phaedra also stepping in to work on album track ‘Maslow’s Pyramid’. The tracking and recording was mostly completed by Skube and Dylan with some wildcard bandmates and friends jumping in, in classic 808s fashion to fill the sonic gaps. Greatest Hits II’s seamless shifts between inner and outer worlds are thanks to creative experimentation in songwriting. The album kicks off with an instrumental that evokes opening film credits and from there on in, things head to new territories with each track. Songs traverse genre and thematic lands but the distance is always visible and reachable.

808s & Greatest Hits is the recording project of Melbourne’s Skube Burnell. Though the project is helmed and the songs are conceptualised by Burnell, 808s & Greatest Hits’ recorded material and live shows feature a revolving cast of friends and collaborators who allow the project to take unconventional and exciting detours along the journey with Burnell at the wheel. Previous incarnations of 808s & Greatest Hits have seen Burnell collaborate with a 5-piece band and other recordings and performances have captured 808s at its most intimate and introspective from Skube alone.

The proof is in the pudding - some of the tracks deal with themes around alien abduction, self actualisation, nostalgia, reassuring messages of positivity, airport terminals and mythical adventures - 808s is out of the Cabin and into the woods.

Greatest Hits II is released today Friday December 11th via Our Golden Friend. Order the limited edition cassette tape via bandcamp HERE.