

Pitchfork wrote that " teems with lush synths and futurist textures, hallucinogenic funk and R&B", and was also influenced by Nielson's nascent parenthood (which also influenced his first and second albums with Unknown Mortal Orchestra). Singles "Multi-Love" and "Can't Keep Checking My Phone" were both A-listed at BBC's 6 Music. Rolling Stone commented that "Multi-Love sees Nielson coloring outside the lines for a vibrant vision of connection" and Pitchfork praised Nielson's ear for how something should sound and referred to the album as his "most accomplished". Multi-Love was released on, to universal critical acclaim. Soon after, they released the title track as the first single, which was designated "Best New Track" by Pitchfork. On February 5, 2015, the band announced their third studio album, Multi-Love. In October 2019, Multi-Love placed at no.18 on Happy Mag's list of "The 25 best psychedelic rock albums of the 2010s".ĭevelopment Ruban Nielson performing with Unknown Mortal Orchestra in Paris (2018) Like its predecessors, the album received critical acclaim, and appeared on various critics' lists of the best albums of 2015.

The album debuted at number 14 in New Zealand, number 44 in the United Kingdom, and at number 7 on the American Billboard Independent Charts.

Alongside Tame Impala's Currents, it was sometimes labelled one of two major critically acclaimed works of psychedelic music in 2015. Considered the band's global breakthrough, Multi-Love made it onto lists by The Guardian, NME and Consequence of Sound for the best albums of 2015. The album won the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll for Best Alternative Album. The fallout from the relationship and subsequent personal transformations for Ruban, his wife Jenny, and the younger woman is the basis of the album's existential themes, and contributes to an eventual catharsis and reckoning with the past Ruban had, once he could finally let go from his bygone "multi-love". The topic is a prevalent theme in the album's lyrics, and Nielson has won acclaim for how he made such topics into music form, and portraying sexual experimentation in a positive light. The title Multi-Love is a reference to the intense polyamorous relationship which Ruban Nielson had with his wife and a younger woman for a year, before her visa expired and the relationship ended. He explored themes such as euphoria, loneliness, existentialism and emotional exhaustion.

Frontman and primary contributor Ruban Nielson produced, mixed, and engineered the entirety of Multi-Love. Multi-Love is the third studio album from the New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra.
