Rex Orange County has announced the new album ‘Dream Fatigue’, which will see him join forces with Turnstile’s Brendan Yates, Dev Hynes and more.
Set for release on November 6, the album is co-executive produced by Mustafa and Dylan Wiggins (Rosalía, Justin Bieber), and available to pre-order here.
Already, the British singer songwriter – real name Alexander James O’Connor – has previewed some of the new material while on the road. At an underplay performance at London’s Village Underground earlier this summer, Rex and Turnstile’s Brendan Yates debuted their new collaborative track ‘Elvis’ ahead of a gig at All Points East.
Just days later, Daniel Caesar invited Rex to the stage at his gig at The O2, where they broke out their collaboration ‘Indecision’ – released in August as the first taste of ‘Dream Fatigue’.
Now, Rex has dropped the new single ‘Grandma Song’ to accompany the album announcement, and it shows him with the same confident, direct songwriting he is now recognised for.
For this album, Rex Orange County has shifted away from his usual style of writing music alone, and instead opted to embrace a new emphasis on collaboration.
As well as Yates and Caesar, others who feature on the record include Dev Hynes, Mustafa, dexter in the newsagent and Taylor Skye of Jockstrap.
“The more minds in the room making decisions? That equaled confusion for me,” Rex explained, before saying that collaboration has only strengthened his sound: “To let people in is to let them take the thing out of you as well.”
As for how the album has allowed him to raise the bar by getting others involved, Rex added: “Suddenly your eyes open to everything, and you just want it. You want to raise the bar – because when you’re playing alongside someone like Dev [Hynes], a true 20-year legend with impeccable taste, or Daniel Caesar, who has incredible melodies spilling out of him, or Mustafa, a phenomenal storyteller through lyricism, you feel it.”
The ‘Dream Fatigue’ tracklist is:
‘Penelope’
‘Elvis (feat. Brendan Yates)’
‘Handsome’
‘Grandma Song’
‘Hannah Montana’
‘Iron Man’
‘The Colosseum (feat. Mustafa)’
‘Boyfriend’
‘Empty Stage’
‘Indecision (feat. Daniel Caesar)’
‘Roleplay’
‘Dream Fatigue’
The new album will be the first from Rex Orange County since he dropped ‘The Alexander Technique’ in 2024.
