Reb Fountain Announces New Album + Shares New Single ‘Good People’
Reb Fountain announces her highly anticipated new album Water for Gasoline, due for release on Friday 14 August via Fountain Records, alongside the arrival of its rousing first single Good People, available now.
Water for Gasoline marks a significant creative departure for Reb Fountain. Written and recorded in Fountain’s own garage studio this year, Fountain’s new album captures the spontaneity and vulnerability of her creative process. Recorded live, most songs in a single take, written and reshaped during recording and evolving naturally in the room, Water for Gasoline exemplifies Fountain’s clarity, confidence and courage as a songwriter and performer. Rather than chasing perfection, and without the added pressure of hiring an external recording studio, Fountain and long-time collaborators Dave Khan, Simon Gooding and Earl Robertson, embraced instinct; trusting both the songs and each other to follow wherever the music wanted to lead.
The result is Water for Gasoline; a collection that feels alive, beautifully imperfect, human and relevant. Listeners are welcomed directly into Fountain’s creative world, hearing the songs almost exactly as they came into existence. It’s a celebration of craft, of trusting the process. It’s music made about people, by people, for the people.
Good People is the opening track and only single that Reb will share prior to Water for Gasoline’s release on August 14th. A powerful opening statement that establishes the mood for the album Reb says,
“I wanted to share Good People then release the album as a whole. Those live recordings – full of our conviction to listen to and record songs together, in one take – the sooner we share them the sooner folks can ‘be’ with us in the room. We’re in this together and we want to bring our fans, old and new along for the ride.”
Good People is motivational music; a universal anthem for the hope seekers & the hungry. Singing from the same hymn sheet as Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Marvin Gaye and Patti Smith, Reb Fountain reignites the role of songs to grow hope, empower unity and to act as a tool for resistance.
Featuring the unmistakable voices of Tami Neilson and Dianne Swann, Good People reverberates with the people’s power. Fountain sounds the rallying cry, where love is the tool in the fight for our humanity and our planet, inviting listeners to join in song. The power of song to unite disparate groups behind a common cause was Woody Guthrie’s mandate. Paying homage to Woody, Good People is equal parts protest anthem and heartfelt prayer to unite folks behind a common cause.
“I wanted this song to be inclusive because Freedom is a collective project. I want us all on the same side fighting together for our shared liberation and survival. To reimagine our world we’re gonna need all of us good people on board, working together to fight the might of fascism in our own hearts and out in the world.”
A song is a vehicle for solidarity. It has the power to remind people of their worth, the meaning in their work, the strength of their voice and the joy of singing together to create change. Reb Fountain’s Good People sends a message of love that is undeniably unifying. “We’re not free until we’re all free, love’s the key to us all.”
Produced by Dave Khan and Simon Gooding, Good People was recorded at Fountain Studios in Aotearoa New Zealand and performed by Reb Fountain alongside Dave Khan, Simon Gooding and Earl Robertson. Together they create a rich sonic landscape that allows Fountain’s songwriting to shine.
Shot in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa, New Zealand, the music video for Good People features Reb Fountain walking the city streets, singing to the people, for the people.
Watching Reb call on Good People to ‘Tear the Fascists Down’ one can’t help but want to be on the side of good. Aren’t we all good people? Reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen’s Streets of Philadelphia, Fountain speaks to us all, calling us to join the revolution.
Water for Gasoline delivers another striking body of work from one of New Zealand’s most acclaimed contemporary artists, a record that confronts the challenges of our times while searching for light, beauty and connection amongst the noise.
