The Basics Tease New Music With 'Don't Be Deceived'

It’s been a little while between drinks for Naarm/Melbourne outfit The Basics, but the group have announced their musical return with a new single set to arrive in just a matter of weeks.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, the group revealed that a new track will be arriving on May 8th, though it might not exactly be what fans are expecting from the veteran group.

“Hey guys, we’ve some new music coming May 8th that’s part of a bigger album project,” the band explained. “That means this is just the tip of the iceberg.

“We’ve done something a bit different with this one, as Apple Music keeps telling us that we’ve got a sizeable audience in the ex-Soviet bloc. We’ve written and recorded a song for that part of the world. As such, there will be some people that don’t get it, and won’t like it. That’s ok, there’s more music coming beyond that.

“The song is called Законопослушный гражданин (Don’t Be Deceived) and it’s for pre-purchase/pre-download,” they added. “Please get behind it!”

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Having formed in 2002, The Basics rose to prominence throughout the ‘00s thanks to the presence of Wally De Backer (aka Gotye) as a member. They’ve unveiled a number of records across their career, with most recent album, B.A.S.I.C., arriving in 2019.

In 2021, the group revealed they would be retiring from the live stage, though promised it wasn’t the end of their music-making career.

“This is not ‘it’ for The Basics – we’ve a new all-originals record firmly in the works – but the days of globetrotting as a discrete unit (aka live touring) had to end eventually. We think it’s better to do it while on a high,” they wrote.

“Yes, it’s been a little while since the last fully-fledged excursion, and so you might be asking ‘why now’? There are still so many places we wanted to go and people we’d like to meet, but with two young families and a medical career between us (not to mention two solo projects and a live music venue on top of this!), there’s just this sense that it was time to draw a line in the sand. Plans keep getting brought up and then quickly dashed, and it just seems fair to make it clear both to you guys and to ourselves.”

“There’s plenty of music there to enjoy, and hopefully in years to come when all the kids are grown up we can play again,” they added. “And of course we look forward to bringing you a new Basics record at some stage, plus new stuff from Wally and Kris.”

Notably, Gotye has found himself back in the charts recently thanks to Doechii’s Anxiety, which was released this month after having been initially issued online in 2019.

The track – which samples Gotye’s worldwide smash Somebody I Used To Know – has gone top ten in charts the world over and has once again fuelled speculation as to whether a follow-up to 2011’s Making Mirrors may arrive.