‘Million Man’ crooners The Rubens have revealed an emotional new track ‘Never Ever (feat. Sarah)’ ahead of their much-anticipated third album, LO LA RU.
The new single features the dazzling vocals of Sarah Aarons, recent APRA Breakthrough Songwriter of the Year winner, and divulges a new sound for the Menangle-hailing band.
Sarah’s heart-wrenching vocals coax Margin’s soulful undertone from the shadows to spin a truly relatable tale of heartbreak and suffering.
“The song became about these two lovers caught in the moment as their relationship drops away. There’s to-ing and fro-ing as they pass blame and second guess their actions before they realise that what they had is already over.”
And yet, while the track is emotional, it is unusually upbeat for a ‘break-up song’. But I think that’s what I adore most about this track. The intertwining of Sam and Sarah’s harmonies are pleading and soul-tugging, but the inherent upbeat-ness of ‘Never Ever’ somehow instils a sense of hope – despite what the title may suggest.
And to think this track wasn’t slated to feature on LO LA RU! The story goes that Sarah reached out to the band for the collaboration,
We actually thought with the album completed we would be writing a song for someone else. The main chord structure and melody was something I had been fiddling with for a while but couldn’t find the words or story for. After meeting Sarah and having a chat we got stuck into the song, started throwing ideas around. Pretty quickly we realised it needed to be a duet and from there the story started to take shape.
Upon finishing ‘Never Ever’, the band twigged just how ‘Rubens’ the track sounded, and needless to say, it earned a coveted spot on the record. LO LA RU is set to present a tweak on The Rubens previous indie rock sound; introducing elements of the RnB and hip-hop influences they’ve cultivated working with NYC Rapper and producer EL-P (Run The Jewels).
Sit back, hit play and revel in the lush ‘Never Ever (feat. Sarah) below.
LO LA RU is slated for release on Friday 29th June, through Ivy League Records.