Fanning Dempsey National Park Share Euphoric Debut Single 'Disconnect'

What did you expect the first track from Fanning Dempsey National Park – the collaborative project between Bernard Fanning (Powderfinger) and Paul Dempsey (Something For Kate) – would sound like?

Perhaps you were awaiting an acoustic-led, singer-songwriter jam, or maybe you thought they’d redo These Days with Paul Dempsey singing most of the track. It’s neither of those things.

Disconnect, the duo’s first-ever song, features Ron Dziubla's saxophone, huge drums, synths, and a gorgeous lead melody that showcases Fanning and Dempsey's skillset.

Dempsey said of the collaboration, “We agreed straight away there's no point doing something together if it's going to be what people think it's going to be. It’s not the two of us with acoustic guitars singing campfire songs.”

He added, “This started out with almost a gospel kinda feel, but over a few drafts, the drums got punchier, and the guitars got hookier, and then we started throwing horns at everything, and suddenly, the party was on.”

Fanning commented, “Disconnect always had a lot of ‘serious moonlight’ energy right from its beginnings.

“The swapping lead vocal plays with the idea of connecting and disconnecting by juxtaposing the confidence/ indecision with each consecutive line. We originally wanted to use sax on everything. After we roughly finished a demo, we’d say, ‘What else does it need?’ The answer was inevitably more sax.”

He continued, “We didn't want it to sound like a Fanning record or a Dempsey record; we wanted it to sound like a band.” On the band name, Dempsey said, “We wanted the sense of an organisation bigger than the two of us. We settled on the name because it’s so pompous that it made us laugh every time we said it.”

The music video for Disconnect – directed by Alex Badham – will premiere on YouTube at 8 am AEST. Check the link below for when the video goes live.

Fanning and Dempsey revealed the existence of their new project last month, teasing “devious plans” on social media. And if one song isn’t enough, don’t stress: an album is in the works.

In 2020, Dempsey and Fanning united to bring fans joy during the COVID-19 lockdowns by covering Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie.

Dempsey told The Music about his 2020 collaboration with Fanning, “Bernard and I had sung Under Pressure together once before (with You Am I at the Concert For Kate benefit last year).

“I was singing it around the house, and it just felt particularly significant right now ("Watching some good friends screaming / 'Let me out!'"), so I thought about doing it again the next time I jumped on Instagram, and then I figured I may as well invite Bernard to try a stripped-back acoustic version. He was totally into the spirit of the thing and just wanting to give people a little something to brighten their day.”