Hot off their recent signing to Sony Music Publishing, The Rions today unveil their feverishly anticipated debut EP, Minivan. They celebrate the release with the announcement of their upcoming national tour, presented by triple j, from late September to November. LISTEN TO EP HERE. Fan Pre-Sale is available now via band mailing list, with general on-sale live on Mon 14 Aug at 10 AM AEST via therions.com

Produced and recorded in close collaboration with Chris Collins (Matt Corby, Skegss, Middle Kids), Minivan sees The Rions make sense of the noise happening around them in real-time. Weaving their own dreamcatcher for listeners, a protective vessel for solace and community from the big brothers who’ve already gone through it with an innate maturity and musicality that has built the group a loyal fanbase and gone on to sell out national tours in the time since their Unearthed High win. While on their titular release ‘Anakin’ (#64 in triple j’s Hottest 100), they might not have felt like enough in the face of destiny, Minivan quells any doubt on The Rions’ blooming trajectory.

Elated by the release of their debut EP, The Rions share “We’ve been looking forward to this day for a couple years now. An EP is something we’ve been wanting to create for a very long time and to finally reveal it to everyone is a huge deal for us. We hope that the story of Minivan (EP) resonates with our fans the way it does with us.”

Like most coming-of-age projects, Minivan too rolls through the motions of finding yourself, grief and heartbreak, delving deeper than ever before compared to their earlier work ‘Sadie’ or ‘Dissociation’. Less so of the peaks and pits of love in all its forms, but a thorough excavation of the youthful effervescence of that torpedo period between life’s most pivotal stage: attempting to understand adulthood. Including new tracks ‘Talking To Walls’, the fork in the road that triggers self-reflection in a time of crisis; ‘Got My Hopes Up’, where the reality of needing to move on from a faulty relationship despite all efforts to continue, is gut-wrenchingly apparent; and ‘Take What You Want’ as the catalyst of heartbreak for change.

Of the latter they explain, “With time, heartbreak can turn into many things. It can be channelled into powerful emotions and in this song’s case, bitterness and regret are the outcome of said heartbreak. The chorus retrospectively and confidently recognising the problems that the love they used to share caused them. The song is meant to feel like you’re joining arm in arm with the people who have your back, and healing through admitting what the problems were.”

Connecting their recent string of releases, ‘Scary Movies’ and the title-track, both supported by triple j playlisting and consistent placement as the most played releases on the station, amongst praise across the ABC: triple j, Unearthed and RAGE, MTV, Music Feeds, Life Without Andy, and more broadly, back-to-back Hottest 100 entries, tours supporting Lime Cordiale, Boy & Bear, Pacific Avenue, festival appearances at SPIN OFF, Party In The Paddock, Festival of the Sun amongst upcoming appearances at Grapevine The Gathering, Yours & Owls and more.

The Rions thread universally felt experiences of existentialism and both inter-and-outer personal relationships with an innate understanding of their influences. Back by a clear drive for consistent evolution, Minivan covers the gamut of the band’s offering: Mylo Xyloto-like, arena-ready choruses with their keen ear for humility and intimacy intact; capturing a similar jolly mischief of the four best friends running rampant through train stations and fields in A Hard Day’s Night. With each steady stride that’s gotten them here already The Rions’ debut EP is a giant leap into the band, and men, they seek to become.

With fans already singing their songs louder than their own microphones, experience The Rions live this September – November.