ALBUM PREMIERE: Mike Noga - King

Recent Cooking Vinyl signee and former Drones drummer Mike Noga will release his eagerly awaited third studio album, King, this week, and The Music is stoked to have nabbed premiere honours for the conceptual work.

With a tour just around the corner to celebrate the album's arrival, Noga is set to be a busy man over the next few months as he shepherds his newest full-length into the world. As we've previously discussed, King takes its cues from 1830s play Woyzeck, by Georg Buchner, and follows central characters Jack and Mary, "a down-and-out couple living in small-town 1950s Australia". 

Opening with the spoken-word discord of Mary, the album proves a frequently dark, often challenging and consistently engaging aural adventure, whether locked into the driven rock of Nobody Leads Me To Flames (incidentally, the album's lead single, second track and final narrative chapter all in one), the jangle of Don't Fall To The Ground, the danceable vibes of The Deceiver, the acoustic delicacy of Greys To Reds and everywhere between and beyond. 

Mike Noga created King after a year abroad living in London, the album's tracks finding their final form with assistance from veteran troubadour Paul Dempsey (Something For Kate) and featuring legendary Aussie actor Noah Taylor as narrator (including three eponymous interludes of his own). The album's track list is broken into four sections: Prologue (tracks 1 & 2), Act I (tracks 3-5), Act II (tracks 6-9) and Act III (tracks 10-12). Pre-orders are available now.

Noga spent much of June previewing King with a series of live shows in Melbourne, and will kick off his tour in support of the album from Friday 16 September, with a show at Sydney's Brighton Up Bar. The sojourn also includes performances in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Fremantle, Melbourne and Hobart.

See theGuide for a full rundown of dates, venues and other booking information.