New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Following months of anticipation, ILLENIUM unleashes his anticipated third full-length album, ASCEND. Get it HERE via Astralwerks. Upon arrival, it immediately claimed a spot in the Top 10 of iTunes Overall Top Albums Chart and Top 5 of the Top Electronic Albums Chart where it remains. To celebrate the release, ILLENIUM hosted a live album premiere on YouTube last night, where he was able to chat with fans as they listened to ASCEND in its entirety for the first time ever.
To date, a string of staggering singles from ASCEND has cumulatively tallied over 270 million streams. These range from the emotionally charged "Take You Down" and "Crashing" ft. Bahari to the smash "Good Things Fall Apart" with Jon Bellion (and its remixes and powerful acoustic version) and this month's "Blood" ft. Foy Vance. YourEDM dubbed the latter, "a downright nasty bass banger with ethereal vocals, making use of everything in his arsenal," and Billboard claimed, "'Blood' knocks down everything in its path ahead of the release of ILLENIUM's LP ASCEND," going on to add, "Few producers are so skilled at melding the ethereal and the pummeling, but Denver-based phenom ILLENIUM has made the dichotomy his trademark."
Additionally, he joined forces with The Chainsmokers for "Takeaway" ft. Lennon Stella, which impressively amassed over 30 million Spotify streams and 19 million views on the music video in less than a month.
In addition to "Takeaway", The powerhouse tracklisting for ASCEND boasts stunning collaborations such as "In Your Arms" ft. X Ambassadors, "Gorgeous" ft. Bipolar Sunshine with Blanke, and "Sad Songs" ft. Annika Wells with Said The Sky.
Embodying his most cohesive vision yet, ASCEND threads together an uplifting narrative undercurrent beginning on "I Care (Intro)," which includes excerpts from the film The Breakfast Club, and carried through an unpredictable musical journey until the gripping final triumvirate of songs ignited by "Gorgeous". Reaching an emotional apex, "Angel (Lonely Interlude)" pairs a thought-provoking timeless quote by Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting with a minimalist hum before "Lonely" ft. Chandler Leighton soars to heavenly heights on echoing piano and guitar. He ultimately exorcises emotion through uncanny musical alchemy.
Last week, ILLENIUM shared multiple exclusive merchandise bundles to accompany the album. Six bundle options are now available in limited quantities at https://illenium.com/. In addition to the brand-new record, these include a black baseball jersey, white baseball jersey, and croptop baseball jersey, brandishing his instantly recognizable phoenix logo. He also offers an eye-catching tie-dye crop hoodie and a striking Phoenix hologram long sleeve in black, plus an ASCEND album T-Shirt and enamel pin.
ILLENIUM brings the new music to life on his biggest headline run yet, The ASCEND Tour, which kicks off September 18 at Stage AE in Pittsburgh and includes a night at New York City's famed Madison Square Garden on September 21, and The Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 7. See full itinerary below.
The album projects ILLENIUM's immersive vision in widescreen. Not only does it musically traverse levels of electronic, alternative, indie, pop-punk, and dubstep, but it lyrically shares intimate and relatable stories inside of vibrant vignettes. Personal, poetic, and powerful, it represents the uncompromising ascension of this innovator.
ASCEND TRACKLIST:
ILLENIUM "I Care" (Intro)
ILLENIUM "Hold On" feat. Georgia Ku
ILLENIUM "Good Things Fall Apart" with Jon Bellion
ILLENIUM "That's Why" feat. GOLDN
ILLENIUM "Blood" feat. Foy Vance
ILLENIUM "Take You Down"
ILLENIUM "All Together" feat. Oekiin
ILLENIUM "Crashing" feat. Bahari
ILLENIUM "Broken Ones" feat. Anna Clendening
ILLENIUM "Every Piece of Me" feat. Echos
The Chainsmokers and ILLENIUM "Takeaway" Feat. Lennon Stella
ILLENIUM and Said The Sky "Sad Songs' feat. Annika Wells
ILLENIUM "Pray" feat. Kameron Alexander
ILLENIUM "In Your Arms" with X Ambassadors
ILLENIUM and Blanke "Gorgeous" feat. Bipolar Sunshine
ILLENIUM "Angel" (Lonely Prelude)
ILLENIUM "Lonely" Feat. Chandler Leighton
ILLENIUM North American Tour Dates:
Tickets: ILLENIUM.com
*Non-AEG dates
8/24/2019 Las Vegas, NV Hakkasan Nightclub
9/18/2019 Pittsburgh, PA Stage AE
9/19/2019 Rochester, NY Main Street Armory
9/20/2019 Boston, MA Tsongas Center
9/21/2019 New York City, NY Madison Square Garden
9/26/2019 Portland, ME State Theater
9/27/2019 Montreal, QC Place Bell
9/28/2019 Toronto, ON Coca-Cola Coliseum
10/1/2019 Philadelphia, PA FranklinMusic Hall
10/2/2019 Philadelphia, PA FranklinMusic Hall
10/3/2019 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center
10/4/2019 Washington, DC Echostage (Throwback Set)*
10/6/2019 Richmond, VA Virginia Credit Union LIVE!
10/9/2019 Oklahoma City, OK The Criterion
10/10/2019 Morrison, CO Red Rocks SOLD OUT
10/11/2019 Morrison, CO Red Rocks SOLD OUT
10/12/2019 Morrison, CO Red Rocks SOLD OUT (Throwback Set)
10/17/2019 Nashville, TN Municipal Auditorium
10/18/2019 Atlanta, GA Coca-Cola Roxy*
10/19/2019 Tampa, FL Yuengling Center
11/2/2019 Detroit, MI The Masonic Temple
11/5/2019 Indianapolis, IN Egyptian Room*
11/6/2019 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
11/8/2019 Chicago, IL UIC Pavilion
11/9/2019 Minneapolis, MN The Armory
11/10/2019 Madison, WI The Sylvee*
11/15/2019 Austin, TX Stubb's Waller Creek Amphitheater*
11/16/2019 Dallas, TX Toyota Music Factory*
11/17/2019 Houston, TX Revention Music Center*
11/20/2019 Kansas City, MO Arvest Bank Theatre
11/22/2019 Salt Lake City, UT The Great Saltair
11/23/2019 Reno, NV Reno Event Center
11/24/2019 Boise, ID Revolution Center*
11/27/2019 Seattle, WA WaMu Theater
11/29/2019 Seattle, WA WaMu Theater (Throwback Set)
11/30/2019 Vancouver, BC PNE Forum SOLD OUT
12/1/2019 Portland, OR Veterans Memorial Coliseum
12/6/2019 San Diego, CA Pechanga Arena San Diego
12/7/2019 Los Angeles, CA STAPLES Center
ILLENIUM unlocks heightened levels of escapism. The Denver-based artist born Nick Miller fashions an otherworldly sonic retreat from elements of ethereal electronic, rich alternative, complex dubstep, intimate indie, and propulsive pop-punk and delivers show-stopping sensory experiences on stage anchored by cinematic visuals and organic instrumentation. He magnifies this vision on his third full-length, ASCEND [Astralwerks].
Emerging in 2013, ILLENIUM carefully positioned himself to forge an enduring emotional connection. His 2016 full-length debut, Ashes, paved the way for a breakthrough on Awake a year later. Not only did it bow at #1 on the iTunes Top Electronic Albums Chart in 12 countries, but Billboard also crowned it one of the "10 Best Dance/Electronic Albums of 2017." Dancing Astronaut went as far as to claim, "While it might seem premature to call an album a 'masterpiece,' no other title would fit Awake so well." Its lead single "Feel Good" [feat. Daya] with Griffin gathered over 120 million Spotify streams as his total stream tally crossed the billion-mark by 2019. Not to mention, he regularly averaged upwards of 6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. The seminal Awake Live Tour brought him into arenas between appearances at Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, EDC, Decadence, Electric Forest, Paradiso, and Coachella. For ASCEND, he employed live instrumentation and co-wrote the most material yet for a project, collaborating alongside Rock Mafia [Eminem, Marshmello] in Los Angeles in addition to working out of his home studio in Denver. He initially set the stage for the record by way of "Pray" [feat. Kameron Alexander] and "Crashing" [feat. Bahari] before igniting the single "Good Things Fall Apart" [feat. Jon Bellion]. A powder keg of pop-punk energy and artful electronic soundscapes, the track exploded as a cross-format smash. As ASCEND comes to life in historic venues such as Madison Square Garden, Staples Center, and Red Rocks Amphitheatre, ILLENIUM accesses the purest form of escapism.
