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“Jeffrey Lebowski, it is "The Dude", Donny Benét, it is "The Don". Quite simply.”
Praised and panned by critics as “Prince on a serious budget cut”, Donny Benét is best described as the favorite nephew to Uncles Giorgio Moroder, Alan Vega and Michael McDonald.
Hailing from Australia, Benét’s debut album Don't Hold Back confused and intrigued many whilst quickly establishing him as a cult figure in the Australian music scene. Donny's piece de resistance The Don, which featured the breakthrough single Konichi-wa, facilitated his first invitation to tour Europe in 2018. In no time at all Europe had caught a fever that only Donny could quell each time he returned to perform. America’s first taste of The Don came in 2019 with Donny supporting Mac DeMarco. Returning in early 2020 for his first sold out headline tour, Donny’s acclaimed album Mr Experience was released soon after. 2022 saw the release of Le Piano alongside another successful North American tour.
A perfectionist, Benét writes, performs and records entirely by himself at the renowned Donnyland Studios. Vintage synthesizers and drum machines are used exclusively by Donny when presenting his hot takes on life, love and relationships. A masterful bassist, his songs are instantly recognised by their signature basslines, which guarantee to get you up and keep you on the dance floor.
Touring Europe and the US since 2018, Donny regularly sells out headline shows and has performed at festivals such as Pukkelpop, Green Man Festival, Rock Werchter, Down the Rabbit Hole, Pohoda Festival, Zomerparkfeest and Rock For Churchill to name a few.
When you need the one who will deliver it - you know you’ve got to call…“Mr Experience”
If you’ve ever wondered what the weight of the world actually feels like, look no further than A Mirror Brightly, the latest from Geographer. In the time since his previous album, the gorgeously rueful Down and Out in the Garden of Earthly Delights, Mike Deni, the atmospheric-pop act’s frontman, has assumed the role of thinking man’s anthropologist. Here, he’s picking through the wreckage around us in a world increasingly ensnared in everything from religion to social media. And he’s got some things to say about it.
“I focused on my experience moving through the world: feeling like an outcast, being denied love in its many forms, and struggling to find meaning in an existence that looked increasingly like a void the more I peered into the glass,” Deni says. Although A Mirror Brightly (out February 23, 2024, Nettwerk Records) is indeed deeply personal, it’s not simply autobiographical like his previous releases. “This record takes that existential shock but explores it through humanity as a whole, rather than just me as an individual.”
The title, Deni explains, “refers to the lights of the phone shining in our eyes, blinding us to ourselves, obscuring the truth.” As much as A Mirror Brightly isn’t afraid to ask all the questions, it can be luminescent, too. “It also refers to the beauty of this life. That is the glimmer of hope on the record. It leaves the option open that one day we might turn the light back away from our faces to illuminate the darkness that surrounds us.”
