Running Touch

One of the easiest ways to describe Running Touch’s music is to borrow one of his own song titles, two words that seem to encapsulate the musician and the world he’s building around his craft: Post modern.

Raised in Melbourne, Running Touch’s work has always been one to bend conventional limits, regardless of the project it’s representing. As a founding member and key studio writer of Ocean Grove (the Australian hardcore band he formed when he was 13), he moulds heavy rock experimentalism with fragments of electronica and pop. As a silent member of Adult Art Club, he warps and buckles techno into its most potent and thrilling. As Running Touch, he’s a somewhat-enigmatic master-of-all-trades: A songwriter, producer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and creative director whose work stretches beyond limits to create art - entire, multi-sensory universes - that distinctly sound like Running Touch rather than anything else.

Since the project’s first introduction in 2016, Running Touch’s multi-disciplinary creativity has been at the forefront of his work. Musically, he plucks influences from artists that have a similar depth to their music; artists that like Running Touch, have projects that span beyond just one distinct sound. However, unlike many others, he takes influences stretched across media – live performance, art, design, photography, literature, film – and combines them into one, creating a sense of complexity that goes far deeper than just the musical surface.

After sharing his debut EP A Body Slow in 2017, everything Running Touch has done since has encapsulated his exponential growth in not just production and songwriting, but how it intertwines with completely realised and fleshed-out universes. ‘My Hands’ was a masterclass in his multi-instrumentalist prowess that fused his distinctive vocal with coatings of guitar, piano and percussion, while ‘When I’m About You’ doubled down on his unique combination of indie, electronica and pop. ‘Make Your Move’, meanwhile, Running Touch’s artistic visions to life in more aspects than ever explored before, marrying another taste of his constantly-shifting sound with media formats that go beyond just the scope of a standard single, including a mini-documentary.

His 2020 has followed a similar track record too. He made a striking entrance into 2020 with a win at this year’s APRA Awards (for his Hayden James collaboration ‘Better Together’) and followed it up with the release of ‘Meet Me’, a personal first taste of Running Touch’s debut album. Then, came ‘Signs’ - a stand-out release from Running Touch that encapsulates his musicality regardless of genre, veering away from his electronic-infused sound in favour of something heavier footed in the sounds that defined his musical roots, such as the rockier gaze of Ocean Grove.

The single also saw the launch of the ‘Post Modern Collective Sessions’, an opportunity for Running Touch to hone in on his multi-instrumentalist skill set while providing a sense of community for like-minded musicians, dedicated to their craft. The first video was centred on percussion, featuring Running Touch performing ‘Signs’ alongside Ocean Grove drummer Saam Bassal, Northlane drummer Nic Pettersen, and Crooked Colours percussionist Lampy.

However, if 2020 was the year that Running Touch’s artistry was reaching a new level of potency, then his 2021 is going to be something entirely different – and his new single ‘Juno’ proves this to the world. It’s a moment of escapism disguised in one of his most infectious works of art to date, further exploring the intersection of his many artistic facets as he moulds together the musicality of rock, electronica and pop with storytelling he finds inspiration for through thriller novels and film; combining pop culture references with world-building lyricism through that acute, Running Touch brilliance that makes his work so distinctive.

“This song is my kind of escapism,” he says on the single. “I didn’t want to focus and write about what I was going through this year, so I wrote this story instead.” And what a story it is, bringing together “violence, crime and love” as he follows the fictional story of Sandro, a “son of crime and a young prodigal painter fleeing his city and falling in love with a budding thief” named Juno. “Sandro’s world revolves around getting as close to Juno as he can, while trying to keep his past at bay,” Running Touch explains.

There’s also a second instalment of the Post Modern Collective Sessions arriving alongside, with the ‘Juno’ video focusing on guitar - bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar - through three masters of its crime, recorded from their respective isolation bubbles: Island Records label peer Matt Corby, close friend and past collaborator Hayden James, and New York City one-to-watch Blu DeTiger. Add onto that the return of the Running Touch live show after 11 months of quietness, and 2021 is the Melbourne musician’s year for the taking - his February headline show at Sidney Myer Music Bowl being a first under COVID-safe guidelines, and an experience that’s sure to define the execution of live music experiences in the new year.

Since the very beginning, Running Touch and The Post Modern Collective – the group of artists and aliases linked to Running Touch, including the visionary’s solo project – have been continuously one step ahead. That is, after all, what post-modernism is all about.

In 2020, they proved that despite everything going on in the world, and all the unexpected setbacks that plagued a difficult 12 months for music. But now, with a new single and an updated show seeing Running Touch burst out of the gates into the new year, it’s clear 2021 is Running Touch’s year - you’re just going to have to keep up.