RAPALLO

Merger
(Unbelievably Spectacular)
Add date: 10.15.2024
Release date: 10.10.2024




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Unbelievably Spectacular
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Note on pronunciation: Rapallo rhymes with “Apollo”

Rapallo is a Montreal-based indie pop duo. Nick Lanyon (he/him) and Kyla Jolene’s (she/her) met at a party in Montreal in 2017 and have been best friends ever since. Their songs feature playful duet vocals, worldbuilding lyrics, and influences ranging from disco to synth funk and yacht rock. The band’s debut record Merger comes out on October 10 via Vancouver-based indie label Unbelievably Spectacular.

Merger features 10 meticulously home-recorded pop gems. Disco basslines, sleazy guitars and cartoonish synths provide a colorful backdrop for Lanyon and Jolene’s bratty vocal trade-offs and smooth harmonies. The album record also features saxophone from Joseph Shabason (Destroyer, War on Drugs, DIANA) on three songs.

Across Merger’s 10 tracks, Rapallo’s lyrics breathe life into a cast of tragicomic characters: an architect builds the Versailles of roadside attractions; swingers confront existential crises at sea; an actor is trapped in a surreal bardo of cabaret excess; a tech billionaire seeks spiritual oblivion in austerity. These vignettes combine to reveal an album that explores desire in an age of instant gratification, and legacy in a culture of shallow self-mythology.

Merger was mixed by Kenneth Gilmore (Weyes Blood, Julia Holter, Pearl & The Oysters), mastered by Harris Newman, and funded in part thanks to financial support from Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ).

Rapallo released their first single “Fine Living” via Nice Guys Records in 2020. The song’s update hook and darkly comic lyrics found a cult audience, amassing over 1 million Spotify streams to date. The band released their EP You Were Born to Drive This Car in 2022.

https://linktr.ee/rapallomusic