Unknown Mortal Orchestra – “Layla” [Video]

Unknown Mortal Orchestra announces the release of the previously-teased forthcoming double album V, due March 17th via Jagjaguwar. Conceived in Palm Springs, California between the dry freeways and the lush coastline of Hilo, Hawaii, V is led by Hawaiian-New Zealand musician Ruban Nielson and draws from the rich traditions of West Coast AOR, classic hits, weirdo pop and Hawaiian Hapa-haole music. Today UMO also share the single, “Layla,” along with an accompanying cinematic video, directed by Vira-Lata, that serves as part one of a two part series documenting the adventures of two young women, here. In October of 2022, the group set the stage for the album with the first taste of V — “I Killed Captain Cook” — with a video featuring Nielson’s mother, Deedee Aipolani Nielson, Miss Aloha Hula 1973.

With V, UMO’s first double album, Nielson reframes and enriches the road that led him to this moment. During the pandemic’s early days, Nielson’s brother Kody flew from New Zealand to Palm Springs to help him with his recordings. One of their Hawaiian uncles began displaying health issues, and Nielson realized he was facing a sharper and more acute sense of mortality. To be with him, he put aside his recordings and helped his mother and another of her brothers move from New Zealand and Portland, respectively, to Hawai’i. He reunited with his brother at his cousin’s wedding in Hawai’i and together they traveled back to Palm Springs, where the fourteen singalong anthems, cinematic instrumentals, and mischievous pop songs in V were brought together with the help of his father, Chris Nielson (saxophone/flute), and longstanding UMO member Jake Portrait.

You can order the new album HERE.