Out now: 'Resist,' the new album by Midnight Oil

Nearly 20 years after their last full length studio release, Australian rock band Midnight Oil today release the new album, RESIST. The group also shared the official video for ‘We Resist’. This short film combines submissions of protest actions by Midnight Oil fans from around the globe as well as archival footage from a handful of the many such events staged by the band over the years.

RESIST features production by frequent collaborator Warne Livesey. RESIST will be accompanied by some special live performances that will comprise the group’s final concert tour.

On February 25, some June shows in North America will be announced as part of Midnight Oil’s final tour.

This new album was actually recorded in late 2019 and thus includes longtime bass player Bones Hillman, who passed away 12 months later. Those sessions yielded 20 songs, but their release was delayed by the pandemic.

The first taste of this new work landed in late 2020 as THE MAKARRATA PROJECT – a mini-album featuring some of Australia’s finest First Nations musicians, and based on the themes of reconciliation, justice and truth-telling written in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. 

It debuted at #1 in the band’s homeland on the same weekend that Bones passed away and went on to be nominated for five ARIA Awards. Lead single ‘Gadigal Land’ (feat. Dan Sultan, Joel Davison, Kaleena Briggs and Bunna Lawrie) received the prestigious APRA Song Of The Year.

From the northern beaches of Sydney to the streets of Manhattan, Midnight Oil has stopped traffic inflamed passions, inspired fans, challenged the concepts of “business as usual” and broken new ground. In 2017 the band returned from a 15-year hiatus for their Great Circle World Tour that encompassed 77 shows in 16 countries. The extraordinary audience and critical response to those shows lead to more European dates and an Australian outback gig in 2019 which then flowed into the recording sessions where RESIST was created. The album’s much anticipated release will therefore literally close the circle on this chapter of a truly extraordinary career.

The band also announced that this will be their final concert tour while making it clear that this does not mean the end of the Oils. Each of the members will continue their own projects over the years ahead. They remain very open to recording new music together in future and supporting causes in which they believe, but this will be their last tour. It will see them performing classic Midnight Oil songs from across their repertoire while also showcasing some urgent new works.

Stream Midnight Oil's 15th studio album RESIST HERE 

Tracklist:

Rising Seas

The Barka-Darling River
Tarkine
At the Time of Writing
Nobody’s Child
To the Ends of the Earth
Reef
We Resist
Lost At Sea
Undercover
We Are Not Afraid
Last Frontier