Bonobo
- bizzarre
- 1 minute ago
- 5 min read
Bonobo releases two singles from his upcoming album ‘Distance in Static’, “Fire on the Water” featuring Grammy-Winning artist Arooj Aftab, and “Drift”.
Bonobo, aka Simon Green, today releases two personal favourites from his upcoming album ‘Distance in Static’: “Fire on the Water”, featuring celebrated Pakistani-American artist Arooj Aftab, represents the emotional heart of the record, while “Drift” showcases its more club-focused leanings and arrives alongside an official video.
To mark the release, Green also drops a very limited 12" featuring "Drift" and “Memory Signal”, an unreleased track that has been a regular in his DJ sets. The vinyl is hand-numbered and stamped, enveloped, and sealed in black art paper.
The album was woven together across recording sessions spanning LA, Tokyo, London and beyond – with a significant portion of the record completed at Neil Young’s legendary Broken Arrow Ranch in California, where he holed up for several weeks earlier this year.
A pivotal track to emerge from these Ranch sessions was the enchanting “Fire on the Water”, featuring Arooj Aftab, who travelled down from her NYC base to record what became a breakthrough moment during the album’s creation. Evolving, almost accidentally, from a rough acoustic guitar loop recorded while Green was testing studio inputs one morning.
On hearing it, Aftab responded immediately, layering vocals in Urdu – the lyrics inspired by poetry from a close friend – to produce one of the record’s standout moments.
“When that song happened, that's when I could first see an album coming into shape, We were both like, ‘Oh, this is really special’.”
says Green.
Speaking subsequently about the collaboration, Aftab shared:
“I had the dreamiest time making this song with Simon in the Redwoods. He is a boyish joy and a beautiful soul. The lyrics, written by my dear friend Yasra Rizvi, live in that tender place where time keeps moving but desire remains. There can still be fire on the water.”
Also released today is “Drift” which, like previous single “Me and You” showcases Green’s adept hand at creating resonant, emotional club music, with both tracks proving their worth in recent DJ sets, including his iconic London rooftop set for Mixmag Lab this weekend.
The videos for Bonobo's "Me and You" and "Drift" were made possible thanks to the work of video commissioner John Moule. John passed away recently and his loss is deeply felt across the whole community, including everyone at Ninja Tune. John commissioned several incredible videos for Bonobo as well as many other Ninja Tune artists over the years. The quality of his work matched only by his passion for the art and the integrity of his character. These were his final commissions so they carry an added resonance.
Bonobo has spent over 25 years as a recording artist, and one of the leading voices in electronic music. It’s a career that has seen him release two Top-10 Albums (2017’s ‘Migration’ and 2022’s ‘Fragments’, which both landed at #5 on the UK chart), plus numerous Gold and Silver certified singles, sell over 900,000 records, rack up billions of streams, collaborate with the likes of Erykah Badu and Damon Albarn, and be both BRIT and GRAMMY-nominated – the latter seven times, with five in the dance/electronic categories, a record number of nominations shared with The Chemical Brothers, Skrillex and Madonna.
His pioneering live show – built around a full live-band, guest vocalists and immersive visuals – has also set the blueprint for how and where an electronic musician can translate their records into the live arena. He has performed to millions of people across the globe, with sold-out shows at prestigious venues like the Sydney Opera House, Alexandra Palace and Red Rocks Amphitheatre – in many cases as one of the first electronic artists to do so – and the world’s biggest festival stages including Glastonbury, Coachella, Sonar and Fuji Rock. His last tour also included both a co-headline of London’s Field Day (alongside Aphex Twin), and a historic sold-out 5-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall, which was the longest consecutive run there by a solo artist, and the longest ever by an electronic musician.
Alongside this, Green’s OUTLIER events and DJ sets have continued to place him at the centre of contemporary dance music culture, connecting with generations of club-going audiences in warehouses, festivals and underground venues alike. He has curated lineups in recent years that featured the likes of Barry Can't Swim, Sofia Kourtesis, salute, Kelly Lee Owens, Mall Grab, DJ Tennis, SG Lewis, Carlita, Elkka, HAAi, John Talabot, Paula Tape and many more, with his 15,000-capacity OUTLIER showcase at Drumsheds in London becoming the fastest-selling event of the season, and a sold-out “homecoming” OUTLIER show at the 10,000 capacity On The Beach (Brighton) proving a highlight of the summer.
‘Distance in Static’, which arrives September 11th on Ninja Tune, sees Green collaborate with a typically striking cast of artists which also includes Joy Crookes, Nilüfer Yanya, Ichiko Aoba, Nicole Miglis (Hundred Waters) and Aanya Martin. Lyrics appear in English, Urdu and Japanese, while historic Iranian samples and guzheng recordings sit alongside Green's own meticulously processed instrumentation.
Green also announced a brand new Bonobo Live show – designed by Pierre Claude, renowned for his work with Air, Gesaffelstein, Phoenix, and Caroline Polachek, will be kicking off this November with a headline run across North America, with more shows to be announced imminently.
The album’s visual world, created alongside celebrated designer Trevor Jackson, reflects this shift too. Moving away from the landscape-inspired aesthetics of earlier Bonobo records, ‘Distance in Static’ instead draws on microscopic photography by renowned photomicrographer John I. Koivula, creating crystalline alien worlds that feel simultaneously natural and otherworldly.
Bonobo DJ / Live 2026
Summer DJ Tour
Tue 04 Aug – Pikes Presents @ 528 – Ibiza – ES [DJ SET]
Sat 08 Aug – Marenostrum Fuengirola – Málaga – ES [DJ SET]
North America Live Tour
Thu 05 Nov – Emo's – Austin, TX – US
Fri 06 Nov – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX – US
Sat 07 Nov – The Echo Lounge & Music Hall – Dallas, TX – US
Mon 09 Nov – The Van Buren – Phoenix, AZ – US
Wed 11 Nov – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA – US
Thu 12 Nov – The Wiltern – Los Angeles, CA, US
Sat 14 Nov – Fox Theater – Oakland, CA – US
Sun 15 Nov – Roseland Theater – Portland, OR – US
Mon 16 Nov – PNE Forum – Vancouver, BC – CA
Tue 17 Nov – Showbox SoDo – Seattle, WA – US
Thu 19 Nov – Mission Ballroom – Denver, CO – US
Fri 20 Nov – Belly Up Aspen – Aspen, CO – US
Tue 24 Nov – First Avenue – Minneapolis, MN – US
Wed 25 Nov – Radius – Chicago, IL – US
Thu 26 Nov – HISTORY – Toronto, ON – CA
Fri 27 Nov – MTELUS – Montreal, QC, CA
Sat 28 Nov – Citizens House of Blues – Boston, MA – US
Mon 30 Nov – Higher Ground Ballroom – South Burlington, VT – US
Thu 03 Dec – The Fillmore Silver Spring – Silver Spring, MD – US
Fri 04 Dec – Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA – US
Sat 05 Dec – Brooklyn Paramount – Brooklyn, NY – US
Ticket details HERE
