Oberhofer, the musical project of Brad Oberhofer, unveils new single ‘Dreaming Of U’, ahead of the release of his first album in nearly 6 years, Smothered, out Nov 12 via Telefono.
Made up of nostalgic synths and wistful duetting vocals from Oberhofer and longtime friend and collaborator King Princess, ‘Dreaming Of U’, comes with an 80’s inspired video directed by Quincy Banks (Charli XCX, Lizzo, Yves Tumor).
“It’s about a time I was dreaming about a person, only to later find out they had been dreaming about me at the same time. With the ‘Dreaming Of U’ video, we tried to capture the experience of interacting with someone in a realistic dreamscape: an empty void. I also had fun practicing the keyboard solo while pretending to be asleep. We spent a lot of time playing with lighting to evoke the kind of ethereally-haloed silhouettes that appear in my dreams. Collaborating with director Quincy Banks was the right fit because I’ve always admired his sense of space and his taste in 70’s and 80’s aesthetics,” Brad explains.
With Smothered, Oberhofer fashions songs from the sparks of his own firework fragments, through personal tragedy, professional uncertainty, and existential crises. He imprinted the anxiety, depression, and darkness of a two-year whirlwind upon tense dream-pop underpinned by wistful crescendos, harmonies straight-out-of-the-fifties, and soundtrack-worthy synth transmissions. The album features Teddy Geiger, Shamir and Nick Valensi of The Strokes. Additional performers include King Princess on ‘Dreaming Of U’, Jónsi on ‘All I Want’, and Girlpool on ‘Miss Yr Face’. With early support coming from the likes of NME, BBC Radio 1’s Jack Saunders, The Line of Best Fit, Dork and Consequence of Sound, Smothered marks the next, most exciting chapter in Oberhofer’s journey.
