Montaigne drops heady new single ‘Die B4 U’, details third album and national tour

The idiosyncratic artist continues on their journey down the hyperpop rabbithole

Montaigne (aka Jessica Cerro) has finally announced their long-awaited third album, sharing the news alongside an intoxicating new single titled ‘Die B4 U’ and word of a sprawling national tour.

The song shows Cerro fully embracing their newfound love for hyperpop, with ultra-glossy, auto-tuned vocals soaring over a crunchy and glitched-out, synth-driven soundscape. It’s a good reflection of their new album’s direction, Cerro noted in a press release, explaining that they wanted the record to feel “feel both industrial and organic”.

“This record is a departure from my previous ones because there are almost no acoustic/real/unprocessed sounds on it,” they clarified. “We were aspiring to a computer record, but we wanted it to still feel warm in places, and I think for all its digital nature it’s still innately human.”

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Have a listen to ‘Die B4 U’ below:

The album itself, titled ‘Making It!’, will be out on September 2 via Wonderlick and Sony. In addition to ‘Die B4 U’, the follow-up to 2019’s ‘Complex’ will feature earlier singles ‘Now (In Space)’, ‘Always Be You’ – a joint effort with former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne – and the Daði Freyr-assisted ‘Make Me Feel So…’ 

It’ll also boast a second team-up with Byrne titled ‘Gravity’, and a song called ‘Comet Death’ that features Japanese-French artist Maika Loubte.

Expounding on the album’s title, Cerro said that “making it” can be seen as “a phrase [that] encapsulates so many different sentiments” – for herself, it is “partly a meta description of the process of creating a body of work over a long period of time”.

They continued: “It’s interrogating success and what it really means to ‘make it’ – my definition of success has radically changed over the years, especially as I’ve grown into my relationship with my partner – I used to want to be ‘big’, and now I just want to be able to make music forever and have children and figure out how to help people without being rich and how to manage my anxiety through all these things.

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“It’s about getting through rocky periods in relationships with people, making it through to the other side, the emotional courage required to do it. And then making it through life, which is hard, very hard for everyone.”

The cover art for ‘Making It!’ was illustrated by visual artist Curtis Maguire, and shows Cerro riding what they described as “a Howl’s Moving Castle-esque monstrosity slouching towards Bethlehem”.

As for the album’s thematic angle, Cerro said ‘Making It!’ is “quite preoccupied with death and the cosmos”, as well as “seemingly apocalyptic feelings and events”, which ties in to their Studio Ghibli metaphor. “There was something about it that made me go: ‘that is me’,” they continued.

“This particular monster Curtis created is kind of cute, bright, and colourful, because I think the record is sonically very colourful and playful. As fuelled as it is by anxiety and fear, it’s all dealt with a sort of fucked sense of humour.”

Cerro will debut tracks from ‘Making It!’ live shortly after the album’s release, with an 11-date national tour kicking off at the end of September. Following back-to-back shows in Adelaide and Perth, the artist and their band will roll on through Byron Bay, Maroochydore, Brisbane, Sydney, Newcastle, Melbourne, Geelong and Ballarat, before wrapping up in Wollongong.

Below you’ll find the cover art and tracklisting for ‘Making It!’. Pre-orders for the album are available here, while tickets for the upcoming tour – a full list of the dates for which can also be seen below – are on sale now from here.

1. ‘In The Green Room’
2. ‘Embodi3d’
3. ‘Die B4 U’
4. ‘JC Ultra’
5. ‘Now (In Space’)
6. ‘SickCryDie’
7. ‘Make Me Feel So…’ (ft. Daði Freyr)
8. ‘Always Be You’ (with David Byrne)
9. ‘Gravity’ (with David Byrne)
10. ‘Comet Death’ (ft. Maika Loubte)

Montaigne’s ‘Making It!’ tour dates are:

SEPTEMBER
Friday 30 – Adelaide, Lion Arts Factory

OCTOBER
Saturday 1 – Perth, Rosemount
Thursday 6 – Byron Bay, The Northern
Friday 7 – Maroochydore, Solbar
Saturday 8 – Brisbane, The Zoo
Friday 14 – Sydney, Oxford Art Factory
Saturday 15 – Newcastle, Cambridge Hotel
Thursday 20 – Melbourne, Corner Hotel
Friday 21 – Geelong, Barwon Club
Saturday 22 – Ballarat, Volta
Friday 28 – Wollongong, La La La’s

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