Ten years to the day Powderfinger performed their final show together (in their home town Brisbane at The Riverstage), they've gifted fans another new song from their forthcoming album of unearthed material titled 'Unreleased'.
'Daybreak' finds the group exploring more soulful, reflective territory; call it country rock as it winds to a close, but the Powderfinger charm is there with Bernard Fanning's comforting vocals asking: "When are you coming home?"Following the earlier release of instant classic 'Day By Day', Powderfinger's 'Unreleased' is slated to land 27 November. Pre-order it.
"The mix of 'Day By Day' and 'Daybreak' – they're two of the best sounding songs we've recorded," Bernard says.
"It sounds like a studio record. . . Coincidentally, it kind of wraps everything up really well. It's the last thing we did and it has elements of most of the things that we did."
Adds Darren Middleton: "I don't know if we were tired at that point, but I would say we were a little bit at the end of our rope; for me anyway.
"[But I'm] super glad we can actually do something with this song now."
The origins of 'Unreleased began March 2019, when the band met at Nick DiDia (long-time Powderfinger collaborator) and Fanning's Byron Bay studio LaCueva.
The task was to compile outtakes for the 20-year anniversary reissue of their album, 'Odyssey Number Five'.
That's how the happy accident of 'Unreleased' came to be. An album of recently unearthed material, it spans a 12-year period from 'Internationalist' (1998) right up until the band's swan song 'Golden Rule' in 2009.
"Some of the songs were always earmarked for a release at some stage, and they were purposely not used as b-sides as we thought they were too good," Bernard says.
"I feel like this is how we ended up looking through our old material, where we discovered other unreleased gems.
"There was actually a spirit of cooperation among the five of us that hadn't really been there since Odyssey Number Five," Bernard adds.
"It was pretty smooth sailing and no one had to fight red, tooth and claw for their idea."
