Communions have shared new single “So Long Sun” on their Soundcloud along with the announcement of a 7″ which features “So Long Sun” (A) and “Love Stands Still” (B) and will be released on Tough Love Records with a limited 500 copies pressed.
Listen to “So Long Sun” below:
Watch “Summer’s Oath” from our session with Communions below:
Photos by James Hjertholm
Yann Tiersen is the curious sort of solo artist who doesn’t give the impression of being a solo artist. His live show, like his records, is often dominated by guest vocalists. He is very present in his performance, and yet watching him on stage at Vega, it would have been easy to forget that the gentleman at the piano or playing the violin was the one leading the band.
As Tiersen’s records are filled with guest vocalists, prerecorded vocals feature throughout the set. The show opens with Aidan Moffat’s disembodied brogue on “Meteorites,” though it’s disappointing when the former Arab Strap frontman doesn’t appear on stage when the rest of the band walks out.
Flanked by four other multi-instrumentalists, Tiersen and his band unceremoniously put down and pick up instruments throughout the set. There is so much equipment on the stage — previously meant to be crammed into Lille Vega — that it is a miracle that they can move so seamlessly, that they can move at all without tripping instruments or people.
While there are classically influenced songs scattered throughout, the focus of the evening is far more on his electronically fleshed out songs. Synthesizer and marimbas in particular make up much of the texture of the songs, in addition to the more anticipated piano. The mostly respectful audience (who still ignore the request that photos not be taken) recognizes the melodica substituted in for accordion on “La Dispute,” featured on the Amélie soundtrack, and freaks out at what would probably have otherwise been a pretty mellow turn. But they are all quick to hush up in these few especially quiet moments.
For the few songs with live vocals, Tiersen doesn’t sing on his own, but instead allows his voice to be blotted out in harmonies — sometimes four vocals deep — from his backing band. When there are vocal solos, they’re provided by one of his sidemen. It allows Tiersen to take up his violin or to shift from his piano to a synthesizer or a guitar, and it speaks of an ear attuned to other musicians’ strengths. But it’s not the behavior you’d expect from a solo artist.
There is nothing less rock and roll than a sit down concert with chairs and tables, light jazz interludes, cocktails and a twenty minute intermission. However, as The New Spring’s music is not particularly rock and roll in the first place, this set up works splendidly. The New Spring, otherwise known as Bastian Kallesøe, put on a concert unlike any other I’ve attended in Copenhagen. A ‘concept concert’ as he described it before starting his concert, the concept being that he would play recently released album Late Bloomer in its entirety, followed by a second set of a whole new, as yet unrecorded new album, A Thousand Songs Fell From The Sky And Clearly It Was A Sign. Though it wasn’t a traditional set-up, the result was the atmospheric and thoughtful environment that Kallesøe had clearly hoped to achieve as a platform for his music.
Armed with only an acoustic Spanish guitar, a pianist and a tuba player, Kallesøe created rich sounds with an overarching sense of calm and purpose. His brand of simple but warm folk music was entirely absorbing, so much so that the candle on my table seemed to flicker and hypnotise in line with the intricate and winding melodies of the guitar strings ahead. Title track ‘Late Bloomer’, like so many of the songs that followed, constantly teetered between comfortable major chords and ones that felt slightly awkward, but this juxtaposition excited the senses. Intensity and poetry pervade Kallesøe’s lyrics, which, in the grand tradition of folk music, are pastoral to their core. Kallesøe’s voice, a sweet and soft sound which whispers, quivers and rings out with confidence even sounds like snow fall as it lands on the guitar and piano lines. The microphone fuzz, whilst usually unwelcome, sounds suitably retro for the artist’s voice, making them a surprisingly good match for one another. However, its this delicacy at the heart of everything that’s performed which makes the music more intriguing and beautiful, even, than the artist’s earlier work.
Photo: Søren Solkær
Shiny Darkly have unveiled the new video for their single “Soft Skin” from debut album Little Earth. The video was directed by Frederik Valentin, who has made videos for Lust For Youth and his own act Complicated Universal Cum. The video was inspired by an old photograph of the legendary band The Stranglers, whilst making references to images from rock’n’roll history, including the iconic Sticky Fingers front cover and Thin White Duke era Bowie.
Watch the video for “Soft Skin” below:
Watch Shiny Darkly perform “” during a Here Today session:
13 years has past since “Like…”, the last album released by Future 3. Still the trio is far from forgotten; earlier this year Danish music critics honured Future 3 with “Pionerprisen” during the award show Steppeulvene, and now there is a new album coming up. “Roller Coasters”, the first single has just been released and it features Anja T. Lahrmann from Ice Cream Cathedral on vocals. You can listen to it here:
The new album entitled ‘With and Without’ will be out on October 10th.
Get Your Gun have shared a video for their single “Call Me Rage” from their debut album The Worrying Kind. The video was directed by Here Today contributor Jonas Bang and shows the band on their triumphant summer tour playing shows at several festivals and touring Europe.
Watch the video for “Call Me Rage” below:
Goat is a pretty unusual encounter of a band. They hide their identities behind decorated masks and fluttering tribe-dresses, they’ve created a unique musical platform as colorful as their costumes, and they’re named Goat! The Swedes caught the attention of listeners and critics on a large international scale with their debut World Music in 2012. Continuing their ritual the band is now touring with the sequel Commune.
On stage the band kickstarts the evening with the funky and familiar ‘Let it bleed’ from World Music. The song is stuffed with hooks and groovy rhythms which makes it impossible not to dance. Or maybe it’s the two shaman-lead-singers who cast dance-spells on the crowd with their magic maces. Anyway, I watch the crowd moving like boiling cauldron from the back of the room. The lead singers are constantly dancing – I can’t help wondering how many litres they’re actually sweating out during a night like this.
The songs are streched into long transcending improvisations with myriads of hypnotising solos, all swept in wah and fuzz. And just like the dancing the rhythm never stops – the drummer and the percussionist bash their drums fast and untiringly throughout the concert. Some songs even merge with the next one with no pause in between. It is a trippy experience that opens the doors to what Jim Morrison named the other side – an invitation that is reverently accepted by a couple of rebellious guys who freely share a spliff.
“Run To Your Mama” is the closest thing you’ll get to a real hit from the band’s repertoire, and it is a true crowd pleaser. But Goat isn’t done yet. The live version of ‘Det som aldrig förändras/Diarabi’ is so heavy and dictating that the crowd and their crazy dance movements immediately morphs into an army of nodding silhouettes. A perfect end to the ball.
The positive things to say about this band are plentiful, in short, go buy their albums and purchase some tickets – it’s highly recommended.
