Premiere: Tora unveil their new single When Will I Learn; new album out in September

Despite the turbulence of the world around them, 2020 was a year of change for Byron Bay-raised four-piece Tora. The indie-electronica darlings entered the year fresh from their returning sophomore album Can't Buy The Mood, a career-solidifying effort from the group that brought the heights of their sound to the forefront and showcased it with the charm and flavouring introduced on their debut album, Take A Rest, two years prior. They toured nationally and internationally, before making the move to Amsterdam, where they'd eventually be stuck as they were thrown into a pandemic-induced lockdown.

The story from here is pretty similar to every other band in the world - their tour got cancelled, and left with nothing else to do, they began work on new material - but for Tora, things were exaggerated being stuck in a country on the other side of the world, in what was meant to be a temporary base while they toured throughout Europe and the US in 2020. Their recently-announced third album A Force Majeure - out September 3rd this year - is the byproduct of their time held up in the Netherlands, with Why Won't You Wait - the album's first tease, arriving in late-April - being the first taste of what to expect.

Today, we're stoked to welcome the album's second tease in When Will I Learn, a long-winding five-minute reflection on the realities they face in day-to-day life, and those emphasised by being suddenly thrown into uncertainty on another continent to their usual home. The end result is something a little darker and more melancholy than the usual Tora affair, with the spotlight being placed upon frontman Jo Loewenthal as he looks inwards on himself and creates one of the most striking and potent songs of the Tora discography thus far.

"When Will I Learn is about the harsh realities that we all have to face at times in our lives, it’s about going inwards and engaging in self-reflection, which becomes the catalyst for rapid growth and expansion, and how sometimes you just need to face problems head on to solve them," the band say on the single. "Much of the song holds dark harmonic undertones laced with melancholic but calm dynamics, until the heavily contrasting bridge where destruction occurs to make room for the next stage in evolution, when balance is restored."

The single premieres alongside an official video clip directed by Onil Kotian, and tour dates that will see Tora return to their Australian home this September, occurring just following the release of A Force Majeure on September 3rd. You can pre-order the record here, but in the meantime, watch the video for When Will I Learn as it premieres below, and find their forthcoming tour dates underneath:

Tour Dates: 

Thurs 9 September - Oxford Art Factory, Sydney
Fri 10 September - Corner Hotel, Melbourne
Fri 17 September - The Northern, Byron Bay
Sat 18 September - Woolly Mammoth, Brisbane

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