DATAROCK’s Fredrik Saroea Teams Up With Acclaimed Ensemble BIT20 For Elegant “Bulletproof Vest” Single
DATAROCK’S FREDRIK SAROEA TEAMS UP WITH BIT20 ENSEMBLE
FOR SUBLIME NEW SINGLE “BULLETPROOF VEST”
PREMIERES ON THE BIG TAKEOVER TODAY
Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live at Greig Hall, Bergen Set for Release on May 13, 2022 via YAP Records
Pre-Save: Here
credit: Thor Brødreskift
FEBRUARY 22, 2022 (NORWAY) – “I always loved songwriters who managed to do something interesting enough with a stand-alone guitar, vocal melody and piece of confusing and/or interesting lyrics delivered with just enough pathos to pull you in,” says Fredrik Saroea, about the inspiration for his new single “Bulletproof Vest.” Best known as the frontman of the critically acclaimed global disco punk outfit DATAROCK, the Norwegian multi-genre artist re-envisioned his recent solo album Rona Diaries (2021) as a live piece with award-winning string quartet BIT20 Ensemble, merging his contemplative indie rock with the exquisite air of a chamber orchestra. “That’s how I intended [“Bulletproof Vest”] to be delivered – like an energetic, odd indie/folk, emo/hardcore/post-rock, musical-esque ‘troubadour’ combo with a little bit of Morrissey, Bowie, Kozelek (Sun Kil Moon, Red House Painters) and Prekop (Sea and Cake) – and strumming as the multi-headed twee-beast who thinks he’s entire bands Fugazi, Minor Threat, Hot Water Music or And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of The Dead… alone with a guitar.” Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live at Greig Hall, Bergen is set for release on May13, 2022 via YAP Records.
Combining his passion for indie rock with the sweeping pastoral soundscapes, Saroea and BIT20’s string quartet (Martin Shultz on violin, Liene Klava on viola, Agnese Rugevica on cello, Johannes Wik on harp with arrangements by Bjørn Morten Christophersen), will be releasing “Bulletproof Vest” today Tuesday, February 22, 2022 and premieres viaThe Big Takeover who says, “Supported by BIT20’s sensuous strings, Saroea gets up close and personal with ‘Bulletproof Vest’ — a heartfelt, intimate number that belies its name.”
Photo credit: Dag Sandven
Recorded at the infamous Grieg Hall during Norway’s 69th annual Bergen International Festival (which took place on May 28, 2021), “Bulletproof Vest,” along with prior singles “Bergheim” and “Understatement Lovesong” as well as all the other tracks from Rona Diaries were premiered to an unsuspecting public who were more familiar with his former band’s rhythmic brand of dance music.
“As soon as I started recording “Bulletproof Vest” (for first solo album Rona Diaries) I, of course, started banging the drums and playing melodic lead guitar and bass, and… off you go, bye max minimalism,” says Saroea to The Big Takeover. “This new orchestrated version is so much closer to what I wanted the song to be in the first place, as intensely and intimately uncomfortably beautifully as possible about… torn between engagingly emotional, observing, understanding and suffering. But youthful and jam-packed with (undergrad) classic references.”
As COVID-19 shut down live music in 2020, Saroea started recording solo material that became his first solo album Rona Diaries at YAP Records’ studio in Bergen, Norway with the help of DATAROCK drummer Øyvind Solheim engineering, mixing and co-producing. The 12 songs were then mastered by UK’s GRAMMY®-nominated Mike Marsh (Björk, Massive Attack, Basement Jaxx, Depeche Mode) and released May 28, 2021.
Featured in “Best Of” lists from Rolling Stone to NME and headlining festivals from Coachella, Lollapalooza, Reading and Leeds, Saroea’s other love DATAROCK impacted music scenes worldwide while also infiltrating both the videogame market with inclusion in FIFA and Sims and the commercial environ with ads for Apple, Google, Microsoft, Samsung and Coca Cola. While their singles including the smash “Fa-Fa-Fa” cemented them as dance sensations, Saroea moonlighted as a restaurateur by opening world famous and Michelin-rated restaurants Lysverket and Hoggorm in Norway.
Rona Diaries: The Chamber Versions Live At The Greig Hall, Bergen includes chamber versions of the Rona Diaries tracks plus two bonus DATAROCK tracks. It was mixed in Los Angeles by the two-time GRAMMY® winner Mark Rankin (Adele, Weezer, Florence and the Machine, Harry Styles) and mastered by Mike Marsh in the UK. The album artwork was created by renowned artist Magnus Voll Mathiassen who worked on Rihanna’s Unapologetic and 2021’s Oscars.
1. I’m a Rock
2. Battered & Bruised
3. Bulletproof Vest
4. The End
5. A Matter of Dying
6. Bergheim
7. Understatement Love Song
8. Stray Cats
9. Dragging You Down
10. The Family You Got to Choose
11. Feather in the Cap
12 Heaven Knows Those Songs Weren’t Heaven Sent
13. Catcher in the Rye (Bonus)
14. Laugh in the Face of Darkness (Bonus)
