Opshop's album on their terms

Ruby Jack Photography

NEW ALBUM: Opshop is back with a brand new album, promising optimism and romance despite the title - Until The End of Time.

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Homegrown favourites Opshop release their third studio album this Monday - Until The End of Time.

Lead singer Jason Kerrison's fascination with the end of mankind has determined the title, but he says the album's tone is optimistic.

"It's more of a romantic notion than a cataclysmic one.

"Human society has found itself in a time where you've got an unprecedented number of cultures predicting an end time, and you know, is that a sheer fluke?"

But songs such as Love Will Always Win capture more hopeful topics such as the awe of new fatherhood.

Band members Matt Treacy and Clint Harris have both recently added to the Opshop whanau with newborn babies and the lyrics tell Treacy's story of hearing his baby's heart beat for the first time.

"I hear your heart beat through her skin, the world's not perfect but with you its better than its ever been," they read.

"Although there's peak oil, although the economy is collapsing around the world, although you've got this oil spewing in to the gulf - when you look at your personal relationships, what happens then? If anything it brings you closer, there's a true paradox in that," says Kerrison who hopes his lyrics will get people talking.

"We're the people in society who should be starting fires, who should be giving people reasons to look through certain looking glasses.

"So [when we look back] we know we weren't just talking s**t, we weren't just singing about ... hoes down at the club, thats not really my bag, you know."

Kerrison is proud of Opshop's third album which he says was made on the band's own terms.

"We don't feel like we have compromised anything about our artistic integrity in doing it," said Kerrison.

"There was no there was no commercial imperative by a record company, it was all done on our terms and we really did try to do things differently, push the boat out a little bit further.

"It's evolved from a songwriting point of view in the way we interact and our processes and we really managed to pull it off. It just feels really good."
 
The album release is just the beginning for the band - fresh from playing to thousands at the Pentaport Rock Festival in Korea they have been announced as headliners at the world rowing championship's opening ceremony in October.

- © Fairfax NZ News