Fruit Bats – formed as the project of Eric D. Johnson (USA) – are one of the most in-demand live acts in indie rock. Eric D. Johnson journeys in from the USA to take to the Castlemaine stage, solo, celebrating their 2026 album The Landfill.

The midwest, particularly the part of the midwest Eric D. Johnson hails from, is a largely flat expanse. Fruit Bats’ June 12, 2026 album The Landfill, released via Merge Records, draws inspiration from the landfill hills scattered across the largely flat Midwestern United States landscape. Some of these man-made hills become parks or trails; for Johnson, they symbolise the emotional weight of the past.

“The mountain that gives us this vantage point is made out of the trash that we’ve created,” he says. On the title track and lead single “The Landfill,” Johnson reflects on “a holy vision / of what could be / and couldn’t be / and could have been”. But what’s truly stunning is how, in his recontouring from could to couldn’t to could have been, he has lost none of the vulnerability that was brought to the foreground of his songwriting by 2025’s solo outing, Baby Man.

Unlike previous Fruit Bats albums shaped over long periods, Baby Man was created spontaneously using stream-of-consciousness “morning pages” that flowed directly into daily recording sessions. The result documented two intensely personal weeks and opened a new immediacy in Johnson’s songwriting that continues throughout The Landfill.

Fruit Bats (USA) solo