A few days ago, Unknown Mortal Orchestra declared that on Christmas Day, they were releasing something called “SB-09.” Well, Christmas has come and gone, and as kids around the world opened their presents from Santa, UMO fans took to their music consumption platform of choice and fired up “SB-09,” a new 19-minute song. As the palm tree-heavy single art suggests, the tune has some laid back tropical vibes to it, marked by its use of slide guitar and relaxed rhythms.
Dropping an instrumental on Christmas has become an annual tradition for UMO, as last year brought “SB-08,” 2019 yielded “SB-07,” and so on.” On Twitter, the group noted this year’s song is “dedicated to chance.” Meanwhile, somebody asked if the album will be pressed on vinyl, and in what was either a joke or a genuine report on the status of the song’s vinyl pressing, UMO responded, “ask adele lol.”
2020 was a relatively quiet year for UMO. June brought a new song called “Weekend Run,” they remixed Arlo Parks’ “Too Good” the next month, and they dropped “That Life” in August. The last major releases from UMO came in 2018 when they dropped a pair of albums: Sex & Food and IC-01 Hanoi.
Listen to “SB-09” above.