Don Letts’ new single ‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Don

THE REBEL DREAD

DON LETTS

THE NEW SINGLE ‘THE UNIVERSE KNOWS WHAT YOU’VE DONE’ FEATURES JOHN CUSACK – LISTEN HERE

TRACK FEATURES ON THE DEBUT ALBUM ‘OUTTA SYNC’ – OUT SEPTEMBER 29TH

“A charming blend of reggae, dub and pop laying out his philosophy and life story so far.” – The Times

“Breezy fun with a serious message.” – Brooklyn Vegan

“Legendary.”–  Clash

The multifaceted creative force Don Letts has filtered a lifetime of diverse musical and cultural touch points into the making of his debut album ‘Outta Sync’, which will be released on September 29th. Its previous singles – ‘Touch’, ‘No Fooling Me’, ‘Wrong’ and the title track – have bounced between styles and genres, all of which have been united by the central theme of sharing his many experiences, but also admitting that learning is always a work-in-process. Now Don Letts shares another new angle to the album with ‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Done’, which features actor John Cusack.

Between its laidback reggae groove, high-pitched Moog synth tone and Don’s mellifluous vocals, ‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Done’ initially lulls you into a false sense of security. But as its title suggests, honing in on its lyrics shows that something more is going on. After the early declaration, “there’s a whole lot of people making money from the poor,” Don takes on the exploitation that comes with late-stage capitalism – and especially the rampaging egos of leaders of the current tech bro movement. Its weighty message is given a satirical bite courtesy of John Cusack, whose narration is full of the age-old advertising slogans that continue to resurface decade-after-decade.

Don says, “Underscored by the one and only John Cusack, ‘The Universe Knows What You’ve Done is a look at the rise of tech and our part in the process of the nightmare it’s become, when the truth is tech’s cool  – it’s people that are the problem.”

You might not have predicted that John Cusack would have ever featured on a Don Letts track, but their collaboration makes perfect sense. He is particularly well-renowned for his lead roles in music films, having played the music-loving, existentialist and failed romantic Rob in the cinematic adaptation of Nick Hornby’s ‘High Fidelity’, as well as depicting mid-’80s Brian Wilson in the biopic ‘Love & Mercy’. And it doesn’t take seven degrees of separation to find a link between the two. Don Letts’ influential work with The Clash is well-documented, while one of John Cusack’s most renowned performances was in ‘Grosse Pointe Blank’ – a film with one of the most essential soundtracks of the decade that was put together by Joe Strummer.

The album also features collaborations with Gaudi who produced and co-wrote the album, Hollie Cook, Wayne Coyne, Zoe Devlin Love and Honor Letts.  The ‘Outta Sync’ album is available to pre-order HERE.

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