Opening up about their long-awaited fifth album, Inhale / Exhale, RÜFÜS DU SOL paint a picture of an intimate process of reconnection—both with each other and their music.
Appearing on Apple Music 1’s The Zane Lowe Show, the band said they recorded the long-awaited album in various locations, creating their own makeshift studios along the way. Its members no longer live in Los Angeles and had to refute breakup rumors back in 2022, when lead vocalist Tyrone Lindqvist mentioned “the end of a chapter for us as a unit” during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
Lindqvist moved to the city of Encinitas, about 25 miles north of San Diego, while bandmates Jon George and James Hunt headed to Miami.
“The real magic started to happen once we were doing these little two weeks stints in those places that you were just talking about in Austin and LA and Ibiza, and I guess we really made the most of those two week stints,” George told Lowe. “We were in a really good creative flow. We were reconnecting and particularly reconnecting in the studio more than ever. I think just making every minute count, getting a lot of work done and less distractions and all music time.”
Discussing the dichotomy between the stillness of the studio and the unfiltered rapture of RÜFÜS DU SOL’s live performances, Hunt says the band is able to draw a line in the sand.
“We’re very good at putting ourselves in other people’s shoes when we’re making the music, but at the same time, we’re also very good at entering a little bubble because it’s just the three of us,” he explains. “We can create a little ecosystem where we’re just having so much fun and the studio spaces that we’re setting up are playgrounds with our favorite synths. And all of us are just rotating, trying different things, trying ideas.”
Hunt hints at a more dynamic sound, promising to push the boundaries of the band’s musical expression after emerging from a period of intense creative flow. Fans can anticipate a fresh evolution of RÜFÜS DU SOL’s signature atmospheric electronica, shaped by uninterrupted studio sessions and a renewed sense of creative freedom.
By making every minute count, they’ve crafted an album that they believe truly reflects their growth as artists, Hunt says.
“And I would say on this record, it’s been really fun and liberating,” he adds. “We’ve been pushing the boundaries of what the expressions of our music looks like, trying different tempos, trying different beat expressions, things that are beatless. And so I feel like this album that we’ve created is way more dynamic and it reflects that we we’re more liberated… and it was just us referencing music that we loved and bringing that to the table, trying different things, things were evolving. So it was very liberating, fun.”
Featuring 15 tracks, Inhale / Exhale is the group’s fifth studio album and first since 2021’s Surrender. They released a new single, “Break My Love,” yesterday along with a music video, which you can watch here.
Inhale / Exhale is set to release on October 11th. Fans can pre-save the album now.
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