Artist News Releases

Ultimate Painting split, cancel album release

By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 13 February 2018

Ultimate Painting have announced that they have split up, cancelling the release of new album ‘Up!’ at the same time.

In a statement on Facebook, the duo’s Jack Cooper blames “an irreconcilable breakdown” of his relationship with bandmate James Hoare.

“I’m very sad to announce that Ultimate Painting are no longer a band. Anyone who has worked with us knows that the partnership at the core of this band has always been a very fragile thing, but due to an irreconcilable breakdown we will no longer be working with each other”.

The band were set to release their new album on 6 Apr, which would have been their first for Bella Union. They had already released a single, ‘Not Gonna Burn Myself Anymore’, and announced UK and Ireland tour dates for April.

The statement continues: “Obviously if there’s no band, then it’s understandably not really in Bella Union’s interests to put out the previously announced album, therefore I’ve asked them not to release ‘Up!’ at this point in time, which they have agreed to”.

Cooper recently completed a tour in support of his debut solo album, ‘Sandgrown’. Speaking about that record recently, he said: “Recording on my own liberated me to sing more like I actually sing. I think I’ve spent a long time in loud bands singing in a way that can be heard through music. The songs that I wrote for ‘Sandgrown’ suit my voice more than anything I’ve done before”.

Hoare also fronts The Proper Ornaments, who released their last album, ‘Foxhole’, in January 2017. Prior to forming Ultimate Painting in 2014, Hoare was a member of Victoria Falls, while Cooper fronted Mazes.