Man Ray is the latest single from Us, and the first preview of their upcoming second album, Everybody’s Giving Up The Cabaret, produced by Charlie Russell. It barely stretches past two minutes, but it carries the kind of urgency that makes it feel bigger than it is, like something that had to be said quickly before it slipped away.
The song was shaped in response to a moment that feels increasingly unstable, where tension sits quietly in the background of everyday life. That context is part of what gives Man Ray its pace. It moves quickly, with a kind of nervous energy that never fully settles, as if it’s reacting in real time. Guitars come in sharp and immediate, the rhythm pushes things forward without pause, and the vocal sits right at the centre, holding everything together while the track shifts around it. It doesn’t try to over-explain what it’s pointing at, but the urgency is there from start to finish.
“The track is inspired by the photography of Man Ray. His images feel like fragments from a world that was shifting underneath people’s feet. Writing the song, I realised that feeling isn’t unique to the past. The music reflects the strange parallels between the era he was working in and our own moment, where geopolitical tensions and global uncertainty form part of the backdrop. The song is really about how art continues to exist and respond to the times around it,” they explain.
That idea of fragments comes through in the structure. The track doesn’t unfold in a straight line but in bursts — moments that appear and disappear quickly, leaving an impression without fully resolving. It gives the song a certain tension but also a kind of freedom.
Part of that comes from how Us have developed as a live band. Touring with Electric Six and later supporting The Libertines helped shape that instinctive, in-the-moment energy, which carried into the recording of their debut Underground Renaissance at the Libertines’ Albion Rooms. Since then, their presence has only grown, from multiple sets at Glastonbury Festival to a run of international shows that have pushed them well beyond their local scene.
With another festival just announced — none other than Fuji Rock Festival — Us have become the first international artist in history to perform on the festival’s main stages (GREEN STAGE, WHITE STAGE, RED MARQUEE, and FIELD OF HEAVEN) for three consecutive years since their debut - a milestone that not only underscores the band’s remarkable rise in Japan, but signals Us as one of the most compelling emerging live acts on the international festival circuit right now.
