Something For The Weekend?
WELCOME TO LONDONPEAKY’S Friday round-up, grab a brew and put your feet up, there’s something for everyone.
Today, COLLECT CALL, TRAITRS, TINY FIGHTER, and MILD HORSES.
BRIGHTON-BASED electronic dreampop project COLLECT CALL presents their ultra-catchy single ‘Chase The Light’, the first track from the recently released EP, ‘The Golden Hour.’
Collect Call is the solo project of Joseph Thorpe, who dug himself out of depression to create this music, this music which sounds like a wonderful, blissed-out, wistful, Faithless, Babybird, Massive Attack collaboration.
Thorpe’s unique brand of indie pop is a beacon for like-minded people, standing its ground with whimsical, lo-fi electronic beats and sincere vocals.
“The ‘Golden Hour’ for me is a cathartic reminder of staying true to yourself, chasing the light as it fades over the hill and that sometimes less can indeed be more,” he said.
On ‘The Golden Hour,’ Thorpe has created a space for candid self-expression, having done so with nuanced vulnerability. Taking inspiration from the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Air, this new four-track offering is as experimental as it is emotive.
“The recording of this EP came at a point where I was feeling very lost as a musician and writer,” added Thorpe. “I had been sitting on a large collection of songs and wanted to try every conceivable avenue I could musically that didn’t really have any sense of cohesion. I became depressed and questioned what direction I was going in, as well as the other two members of the group at the time departing the project for personal reasons.
“When the world plummeted into lockdowns, I began tinkering with an idea that would later become ‘Pretense,’ I had been listening to Sufjan Stevens and Kings of Convenience at the time and felt that finishing the song helped me break out of my fugue state and I could get back into making music that I enjoyed.
“I then went back and whittled what originally was a seven-track EP to just four, incorporating two old songs that I reworked and two new ideas that were all but completely recorded in one day at Brighton Electric Studios. ‘The Golden Hour’ for me is a cathartic reminder of staying true to yourself, chasing the light as it fades over the hill and that sometimes less can indeed be more.”
Self-released, ‘The Golden Hour’ is out now, available digitally across all online stores and streaming platforms.
TRACK LIST
1. Chase The Light
2. Simple
3. No Amount of Medicine
4. The Golden Hour
CREDITS
Written, produced and mixed by Joseph Thorpe
Corin Robinson: additional engineering, mastering
Joseph Thorpe: vocals, keys, drums, guitar, bass, synths
Kianna Blue: piano, additional synthesizers, percussion, sound effects
Lawrie Pringle: bass on ‘No Amount of Medicine’
Andrew Stuart-Buttle: strings on ‘Simple’
‘The Golden Hour’ cover artwork by Ash Babb
Keep up with Collect Call
Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube | Soundcloud | Apple Music | Spotify
T W O
CANADIAN dark indie duo TRAITRS have just released their much-anticipated album, ‘Horses In The Abattoir,’ a collection of 11 dark and lush tracks.
Based in Toronto, TRAITRS was formed in 2015 by Sean-Patrick Nolan and Shawn Tucker. With a cinematic blend of post-punk, goth, alternative and post-rock, their emotive melodies, propulsive rhythms, angular guitars and mysterious cinematic electronics quickly led to the duo becoming one of the dark music scene’s fastest rising independent artists.
The album will certainly appeal to those who are on good terms with The Cure, Placebo, New Order and The Smiths.
“To me, this record is about passing time and aging, the frailty and impermanence of existence. How everything we know and love exists briefly before disappearing into nothing,” said Nolan.
“This record covers a wide emotional spectrum from the beautiful to the horrific, overwhelming strength to heart-breaking vulnerability. We started writing ‘Horses In The Abattoir’ in Toronto during the summer of 2018 and continued writing the album on tour overseas. If there was any spare time between shows, we spent it writing in backstage areas, hotels and while crashing on the couches and floors of our closest friends. The album encapsulates both the promise and darkness that we experienced during this very exciting, but equally intense period of our lives.
“Professionally, ‘TRAITRS’ was on the rise and our shows were getting bigger and better, but personally both Shawn and I felt like we were crumbling under the weight of personal loss, depression and exhaustion. It was a life-changing time period, for better and for worse, and ‘Horses’ documents both the darkness and light that Shawn and I endured during this time. Lyrically and musically, this is the most personal and brutally honest we have ever been. Blemishes and all, this is who we are.”
The album was recorded with producer Josh Korody (F*cked Up, Japandroids, Dilly Dally, Beliefs, Nailbiter) at Candle Recording Studio and mastered by Pete Maher (U2, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails, Prince, Linkin Park, Katy Perry).
“The theme of the record pulls heavily from the title: taking something innocent and beautiful and ending its life for no reason,” added Tucker. “In retrospect, ‘Horses’ captures the darkest period of our entire lives and that hurt bleeds out all over the record. I can definitely say we are still the same band, but certainly not the same inside ourselves. Somehow ‘Horses’ became its own beast and solidified its own place in the world. At times, it seemed like all we had left was ‘Horses’ and the record felt much stronger and self-contained than us.
“We stepped out of ourselves for a while, imploding, almost not finding our way back. It was a destructive time, and I didn’t even realize what was happening until the storm had finally passed. Despite all this, we had written 17 songs, over a hundred fragments and were excited to start a new phase of our career with Freakwave Records.
“When I hear this record, it pulls things out of me that you might not want to feel or confront, but that’s what making art should be about. This record is filled with anger, sadness, beauty, hurt, love, loss and beyond. I’m very proud of this record. It’s our best work to date, hands down, our post-depression record.”
‘Horses In The Abattoir’ is now available on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally via the usual platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Alternatively, it can also be ordered from: https://orcd.co/horsesintheabattoir
CREDITS
Written and performed by TRAiTRS
Shawn Tucker: Vocals, guitar, bass guitar and lyrics
Sean-Patrick Nolan: Synths, piano, sequencing and programming
Additional percussion: Josh Korody
Recorded at Candle Recording Studio, Toronto
Produced and mixed by Josh Korody and TRAITRS
Mastered by Pete Maher
Album cover design by Shawn Tucker, based on ‘Anna Pavlova In The Fokine/Saint-Saëns The Dying Swan. St. Petersburg — 1905’.
Video scenario and production by TRAITRS
Video directed and edited by Shawn Tucker
Keep up with TRAITRS
Bandcamp | Facebook | Instagram | Soundcloud | Twitter | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
T H R E E
SWEDISH-AUSTRALIAN indie pop outfit TINY FIGHTER present their new single ‘Rewind,’ the first taster and title track from their new album of the same name — both out now.
Formed in 2017, Tiny Fighter grew from a collaboration between Therese Karlsson (a truck driver from Kalmar in the deep south of Sweden) and Tim Spelman (a doctor from the deep south of Australia), into a full band with members in Poland, Israel, the United Kingdom, Australia and Sweden. They have released a string of singles and EPs, a live album, a remix collection, and the full-length debut album, ‘Going Home.’
After successful tours throughout the US, Canada and Europe, the group were poised for a small but significant slice of world domination. Then along came the pandemic, effectively putting the brakes on the entire machine.
Faced with an extended period without touring, Tiny Fighter produced a completely new record combining new songs with re-interpretations of some of their fan-favourites. Thus, the ‘Rewind’ album was born.
Difficult times call for different methods and the ‘Rewind’ recording sessions saw the band bring in several new instruments, including, dobro, trumpets, and flugelhorns. And in perhaps what is their most Scandinavian moment to date, the vocals were recorded in the studio sauna — arguably on account of the excellent soundproofing and bonus warmth.
“This record represents somewhat of a departure from our previous pop-rock based releases, with a heavier reliance on acoustic instruments and bringing in new layers including brass, mandolins, pedal steel and drum machines,” said Spelman. “The pop is still there, but it’s more intimate and stripped back — that’s why we recorded the vocals in our sauna.”
The long player once again sees Tiny Fighter team up Swedish metal legend and multi-Grammy award winning producer, Thomas ‘Plec’ Johansson (Opeth, Soilwork, Degrade).
“Our new album is a more acoustic take on our songs that already exist, with the exception of one cover and a Swedish version of one of our songs,” added Therese Karlsson. “It has been fun looking into our own rear-view mirror and now bringing some of our songs to light once more with an acoustic touch. So, for this album we are rewinding time and, at the same time, we look forward to seeing what lies ahead of us.
“Usually I receive the music from Tim, so first I get particular feelings from the music and that feeling turns into words and, in the end, it becomes a story. The lyrics are inspired by other people, their life stories or my own inner feelings or observations about society. This ‘Rewind’ album sees a mix of all of that.”
‘Rewind’ the album is released via Bay Terrace Records and available from Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.
TRACK LIST
1. You Said To Me
2. Sprinter
3. New Century (acoustic)
4. If I Could See
5. Happier (svenska)
6. Strangest Thing (acoustic)
7. Tell Me (acoustic)
8. Rewind
CREDITS
All songs written by Tim Spelman and Therese Karlsson, except ‘Sprinter’ (written by Mackenzie Scott)
Produced, mixed and mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johansson and Tim Spelman at The Panic Room Studio, Skövde & Stockholm, Sweden
Photography by Marcos Engman (instagram @mecno)
Video by Christian Rutegård & Therese Karlsson
Keep up with Tiny Fighter
Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Soundcloud | Spotify | Apple Music
F O U R
AFTER the release of the ‘Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again’ album earlier this year, MILD HORSES — the solo project of Matthew Leuw — have already begun work on its follow up.
“Since the album release I’ve been recording a pretty unrelenting miserable Christmas song, exclusively available on just a CD https://cherryaderecords.bandcamp.com/album/a-very-cherry-christmas-volume-15 made a video for ‘Suited’ from the first album https://youtu.be/S-Fxb7kSjYQ and have started work on the second Mild Horses album, which is slowly taking shape and will in all likelihood be released at some point in 2022,” said Leuw.
Having had something of a hiatus this is Leuw’s first foray into the studio for a while and represents something of a career retrospective combining some of the sounds of his previous bands with an ambition to create something new. The result was ‘Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again,’ a blend of dreampop guitar, synths and electronics.
Leuw was previously involved with Norwich-based Crest, Brighton’s Coin-op and was the guitar playing half of the lo-fi electro pop group, ‘2 Hot 2 Sweat,’ bands who played and toured with a Deathcab For Cutie, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Mogwai, Inspiral Carpets and British Sea Power to name but a few.
‘Ignorance To Enlightenment And Back Again’ is currently available from:
