Reb Fountain Title Track

With only a few days wait until New Zealand folk songbird Reb Fountain reveals her highly anticipated, deeply reflective second album IRIS, she shares the final shoo-in single "IRIS", forecasting the album's bold brilliance. 

Fueled by a theatrical sonic landscape and rich with the spellbinding lure of Reb's untamed vocal capabilities, the track truly sets the elevated tone of the forthcoming album. "IRIS" is the last of five early revealed tracks from Reb Fountain's upcoming album IRIS, following "Foxbright," "Lacuna," "Beastie," and "Heart." IRIS is out via Flying Nun Records on October 1st, 2021 on both black and turquoise vinyl, CD and digitally.

Namesake of her new album, Reb says, "IRIS is a love letter to my sisters and my many selves, an embrace that holds all the stories we never shared, a rainbow connection, a feminist arsenal, a space to rest, a prism for the heart. What's in your heart that you dare not speak? If love be our currency, what stories we would tell?"

As an album, IRIS is a landscape for Reb to speak her unspoken, an opportunity to reflect on what she has seen and experienced from within and to bear witness. As a song, "IRIS" is an all encompassing piece that captures the true essence and tones spread through the album's broader meanings. It makes place and context for the stories within IRIS to live and breathe.

Diving into the deeper meaning of the album's namesake, Reb says, "Iris is in many ways an unsung hero, known as the goddess of the rainbow, sea and sky, she acts as bridge between the gods to humanity with little of her own story known. So many stories go unheard, so many aspects of our humanity are unsung; visibility is a contested and inequitable space where what is essential, and of beauty, is often 'invisible'. I wanted and needed to give voice to this essential human spirit; to conjure and hold and commune with the very real, valid and invaluable voices within and around me."

In May 2020, Reb Fountain released her self-titled album via New Zealand label Flying Nun Records to much critical acclaim. Reb Fountain won the 2021 Taite Music Prize, was shortlisted for the Silver Scroll Award for her song "Don't You Know Who I Am," and the album Reb Fountain was nominated for five New Zealand Music Awards; Album of the Year, Best Alternative, Best Solo Artist, Best Album Artwork and Best Engineer.

The award-winning songwriter, Reb Fountain, is a consummate recording artist and performer; spell-bounding audiences with her music and artistry alike. Throughout 2020, Reb and her all-star band astounded audiences around the country on her sold out album release tour, joined Crowded House on their 13 date, 'To The Island Tour', performed at Splore, and honoured the great Nick Cave at the sold out Auckland Town Hall show, 'The Boy Next Door'.
Reb was born in San Francisco and immigrated with her family from North America to Lyttelton " the quiet port town out of Christchurch that's been fundamental to New Zealand's alt-folk scene, raising artists like Marlon Williams, Aldous Harding, and Delaney Davidson.