The Rembrandts Announce New Album

The Rembrandts-the pop-rock duo of multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Phil Solem and Danny Wilde, have signed a new record deal with Blue Élan Records and are set to release their new studio album, Via Satellite, on August 23, 2019. Before the album hits, the duo will preview the new songs at this year's SXSW Festival in Austin - on March 15, 2019 at Lambert's BBQ.

Via Satellite,The Rembrandts first studio album in 18 years, features meticulous, guitar-driven songs that explore every nook and cranny of the pop continuum. "How Far Would You Go" is jangly rock, singed lightly with '60s psychedelic atmosphere; "Broken Toy" hews toward dizzying power-pop with hollering vocals awash in emotional grit; and "Come to California" is electrified roadhouse blues-rock burnished by glam-soul detailing. Anchoring these songs are Solem and Wilde's harmonies, which are imploring and tender on the twangy "Count On You"; Beatles-esque on the jaunty "Me And Fate"; and graceful spirals on the chiming midtempo ballad "Now."

In the years between Lost Togetherand Via Satellite, both Solem and Wilde have remained busy working musicians. The former, who moved from Minneapolis to Nashville in recent years, has written for and produced a variety of artists and done some commercial work. Wilde co-wrote several songs on the Gin Blossoms' 2018 album, Mixed Reality, and released an album with that band's Jesse Valenzuela, Prairie Wind.

"We are individuals, and we do have our own unique sounds, but it's the harmonies, the interweaving of the melodies, that really make the Rembrandts sound," says Wilde.

Of course, many know The Rembrandts as the pop-rock duo who co-wrote "I'll Be There For You" otherwise known as the "Friends Theme" song, which garnered a Grammy nomination, spent eight weeks at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, topped the charts in Canada and Scotland, and continues to find new audiences thanks to Friends reruns. But before that song, there were other Top 40 hits like "Just The Way It Is, Baby", "Johnny Have You Seen Her," "Someone," "Burning Timber" and "This House Is Not A Home."

After going their separate ways in the late 90's, the pair reunited for a proper Rembrandts album, 2001's Lost Together."We just got tired of not seeing each other, and we got together and made another record, which we had just a helluva good time doing," Solem says. "It was just like starting over. It was very au naturel."

Track listing for Via Satellite:

1. How Far Would You Go
2. Broken Toy
3. Me and Fat
4. Count on You
5. Traveling From Home
6. Come To Californ-i-ya
7. Now
8. Off of the Edge
9. You'd Think I'd Know
10. On My Own