Jack Rua and Saint Taint collaborate on bouncy new single ‘Contact’ from their upcoming EP

The duo came together to release their frustrations about lockdown, their craving for intimacy and the madness of America.

Two men in separate rooms shot by moody lighting

Dublin based glam-pop artist Jack Rua and US-based Saint Taint have collaborated virtually to create their new single ‘Contact’ which features on the pair’s new EP ‘I Don’t Party Enough Anymore’.

The high energy relatable bop is a sexy and fun plea for some real human contact, even if it means just going on a one night stand.

“I wrote this song about wanting, needing, craving physical intimacy,” said Jack Rua who is a graduate of BIMM Dublin. “We wanted to capture the feeling of being alone in your bedroom all night and aimlessly scrolling social media and dating apps, so the verses kind of echo that quiet moment of intimacy before the chorus lets you in to see the internal frenetic desperation of desiring something that you can’t have.”

These new releases follow on from his debut album Narcissus which came out last summer, and his previous singles ‘Curious’, ‘Rise’, ‘Ego’ and ‘Scarlet A’.

Jack Rua met Saint Taint online and they decided they wanted to work together; the whole EP was written and created by the two artists alone. Jack explained, “This project was born from both of us being trapped inside and trying to process the complicated emotions and frustrations we were both feeling, sometimes with idealisation and sometimes by confronting it head on”.

Saint Taint added a uniquely American viewpoint, taking inspiration from the “American dumpster fire of the pandemic and police aggression, as well as the general political landscape”.

After ‘Contact’ sets the ball rolling, the title track details dissatisfaction with current life and reminisces about times that weren’t so riddled with anxiety and isolation. Describing the song as a ‘quarter-life crisis swan-song’, Jack said, “Early on in the lockdown I was spending my days watching TV and playing video-games, then at night I would get drunk and dance around my room. Then I’d wake up, mourn how far my life had fallen from the excitement and freedom of the previous years, and repeat the process.”

The project closes with the Saint Taint solo ‘Bike Ride’. Based on a looped sample of Jack hitting the wrong piano note in a voice memo, Saint Taint wrote a poignant depiction of life in America amidst the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests.

“I was thinking of the triage tents all over the parks around where I lived for COVID patients,” they explained. “I was thinking about the protests near those same parks where I’d run from tear gas. I just had a general feeling that none of us can even enjoy just sitting around doing nothing, because things are so unbelievably messed up in this country”.

‘Contact’ is out now on Spotify and all other streaming platforms and the EP ‘I Don’t Party Enough Anymore’ will be available on May 7th.

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