Future Utopia, fronted by world renowned artist, songwriter, musician and producer Fraser T Smith have today announced details of their new album Django’s High. Django’s High will be released on the 12th July via 70Hz Recordings/The Orchard and the album’s first single Looking For A Way Out (Of Del Rio) is out now. Django’s High follows the 2023 EP We Were We Still Are, which features collaborations with Kae Tempest, Biig Piig and Tomi and was toured by the Future Utopia band across a series of fantastically received headline shows last autumn.

Speaking about the new single, Looking For A Way Out (Of Del Rio), Fraser says:

‘It’s got that very desert-like feel, with elements of the ’60s and ’70s spaghetti westerns in there – but with more modern-sounding drums as well. It really sets the tone for what’s coming on the rest of the album which made it a perfect choice as the first single’.

Django’s High sees Fraser singing on a Future Utopia album for the first time and is co-produced by Kasabian songwriter and frontman Sergio Pizzorno. The record is a globe-trotting, stargazing, soul-stirring second album from Future Utopia. A punchy, focused, imagistic 10 tracks clocking in at less than 34 minutes, it’s a spaghetti western-style soundtrack for a movie of the mind. Django’s High is influenced both by cinema and an isolation-forged desire of Fraser’s to push the limits of himself and his songwriting. Struck down by covid while writing the album, Fraser decided to watch Coen brothers films in the morning and to try and write a new song each afternoon. He explains:

'I started with the Coen brothers’ big ones; Fargo and then No Country for Old Men, the latter of which resonated with me so much that I had to watch it twice. Once I'd watched five or six Coen brothers films, I thought: I'm going to start watching some spaghetti westerns. That bedrock of cinema soundtracks stayed with me in the songs I was writing in the afternoon, putting down guitar lines and basic drums and melodies.'

Key tracks on Django’s House include the highly personal Interplanetary Signs and Stars Align. Speaking about these songs, Fraser says:

‘Interplanetary Signs is about a very challenging relationship I've had with my biological father, who I haven't seen much of over my whole life. It was really cathartic to be able to write about that. The overriding feeling is that, if you are on different planets in terms of a relationship with somebody, there's no point trying to chase that. Stars Align is about my wife Sarah; when the stars align, everything clicks. With Sarah I found my soulmate. We work together, we do everything together’.

In 2021, Future Utopia won the Ivor Novello Award for ‘Best Contemporary Song’ for Children Of The Internet, their collaboration with Dave from their debut album, 12 Questions. The win is the latest plaudit for a creative partnership between Smith and Dave that has seen the pair win two previous Ivor Novello Awards, first in 2018 with ‘Best Contemporary Song’ for Dave’s Question Time, before they went on to win the prestigious prize again in 2020 for Dave’s track Black (from the Mercury Prize winning album Psychodrama), which they also performed together at The BRIT Awards in 2020. Fraser recently co-produced Idris Elba’s new single Knives Down, which aims to combat youth violence within the UK.

Last year Fraser announced details of his ‘Future Producer Academy’ in partnership with PPL and the Music Producers Guild. Aimed at tackling the pervasive issue of under representation in the music industry, the new Academy will select promising producers to work with Fraser and his extensive network, to build their success via a combination of financial backing and unique educational opportunities.

Fraser T Smith is a multi-award winning, internationally acclaimed artist, producer, songwriter and musician - one of the most in demand creators in contemporary music today. He has co-written, mixed and produced 7 Number One singles in the UK, 2 Billboard Number One singles in the US, and contributed to 18 Number 1 albums. Having spent most of his career producing and songwriting for some of the biggest artists in the world (Adele, Stormzy, Sam Smith, Florence and the Machine, Drake, Gorillaz, Kano, Dave and more) he released his own debut album, 12 Questions, in October 2020, under the moniker ‘Future Utopia’. 12 Questions features an incredible roll call of some of Britain’s most vital and brilliant artists, including Stormzy, Dave, Kano, Ghetts, Bastille, Es Devlin, Simon Armitage and Idris Elba and discusses issues including faith, freedom, race, gender, wealth, equality and ecology.

Future Utopia’s new single Looking For A Way Out (Of Del Rio) is out now and the new album Django’s High is released on 12th July via 70Hz Recordings/The Orchard.