Rodney Fisher has joined forces with Ōtautahi’s Andy and Victoria Knopp, aka alt-pop duo The Response, to release a debut collaborative album.
Titled Art School Dropout (Fisher is a self-proclaimed dropout of Tāmaki Makaurau’s Elam School of Fine Arts), the debut collection was released last week, this new era of music finds the former Goodshirt frontman purposefully taking on less of a starring role.
“This music is more intimate and personal than one might expect,” Fisher explains. “I’ve been making music for as long as I can remember, but now by not being a frontman I can lose myself in the music and listen in a completely new way.”
A long-time admirer of the Christchurch duo’s sound, Fisher finally met The Response after hearing their cover of Goodshirt’s “Fiji Baby”. “We got talking, and I made plans to send them a track to get their take on a remix version,” he remembers.
Art School Dropout blends The Responses’ atmospheric electronic elements with more acoustic sonic moments. The Response duo of Victoria and Andy Knopp were more than happy to enhance their connection with Fisher by making a full-length album together.
“While making Art School Dropout, we were trying to get a blend of the grounded sounds of acoustic driven music with the more otherworldly electronic embellishments that help create an atmosphere of introspection and nostalgia,” they say. “We knew Rodney wanted to explore a more fragile voice style with this record and we wanted to make sure the instrumentals were the perfect bed for letting that emotive vocal delivery shine.”
The album includes the singles “Something Nothing”, “Keeping Up Appearances” featuring fellow Christchurch duo Terrible Sons, as well as the sweeping final single “Take It Slow”, which is accompanied by a moody black-and-white video (watch above).
Along with the album release, Fisher has been revisiting his art school days, creating his own acrylic paintings for the music videos and crafting one-off pieces inspired by the album in collaboration with Kingsland store, The Vintage Consortium.
Rodney Fisher and The Response’s Art School Dropout is out now via Bigpop Records.
