Blue Hawaii is the songwriting, production, and DJ project of Raphaelle ‘Ra’ Standell and
Alexander ‘Agor’ Kerby.

After some four years apart, the duo rekindled their creative flame in
2016 and begun writing music about an intimate relationship Ra was experiencing mostly
over instant messaging, sparking ideas about the meaning of closeness in our highly
connected world.
Today, the duo is pleased to announce their new album Tenderness due for release on

October 6 th via Arbutus Records.

With the announcement they share the album’s lead single, “No One Like You”.

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Tenderness is a concept album which brings forth the challenges of handling relationships
online. Maintaining closeness over distance and a need for more tenderness between each
other - both in real and virtual life - are important themes in the album´s progression.

The album draws upon influence from 90´s dance tracks and deep disco cuts, often mixed

with Ra’s acoustic guitar playing.

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It unfolds like a play and each song being supported by shorter
interlude pieces: skits, phone calls, acoustic demos, real life samples and quiet left-turns.
"Free At Last" opens as a smooth house jam with a half-spoken vocal, rasping out the
bittersweet tear between the end of Ra’s last relationship and her budding self-confidence.
The listener is guided through the many other phases of letting go: pining, anger, nostalgia,
forgiveness, and abandonment, until reaching the title track, “Tenderness".

Here the strength which Ra has been searching for is boldly stated:

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“I learn to greet the day, with as much tenderness as if I were laying

in your arms, learning how to be alone without you,

and happy to be with me”.

Blue Hawaii have traced a unique path. They made a splash back in 2010 by releasing the
sun-soaked EP Blooming Summer, following their loving, dustyrose coloured travels through
Central America. Three years quickly passed and they suddenly found themselves touring a
break-up record called Untogether (2013), dealing with complex issues surrounding
technology & their relationship, living apart while creating together, and seeing their

local community torn apart by success and jealousy.

 

Since then, Ra spent much of her time with her band Braids, while Agor has lived in LA and Berlin developing a deeper understanding of dance music production and DJing — something the two are well known to bring to their heavy-hitting live show & DJ sets.

The cover image of Tenderness is shot in Agor’s ex-living room in Glendale, CA - it depicts a
couple close to each other, ironically tender, communicating primarily on their phones.

This speaks to the contradictory power of technology, wherein people are both alienated and
brought together by its use.

It offers one view on our preferred method of staying in touch, but not an altogether

depressing one for it is somehow also rose-coloured and loving, with room for personal growth.

By the end of the record Ra has dismissed her absent lover and finds
validation without a need for them - investing newfound energy in being tender to herself.

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LIVE DATES

 

November 16th  Amsterdam, NL  Muzieklokall @ de School
November 21st  London, UK  Pickle Factory 
November 22nd  Paris, FR  Supersonic
November 23rd  Cologne, DE  Gewölbe
November 24th  Heidelberg, DE Karlstorbahnhof
November 25th  Berlin, DE  Internet Explorer
November 26th  Warsaw, PL  Kulturalna

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B I Z Z A R R E

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