Year: 2019

Artist Spotlight – Flicker Vertigo

Posted on by Kat Nip Carver

flicker-vertigo

The music of Melbourne artist Nathan Nicholson, (not the Boxer Rebellion vocalist), aka Flicker Vertigo, teems with swirling and overlapping psychedelic and shoegaze textures and sounds on his fourth album, Ephiphany.

The album is brimming with blissful melodies, intricate rhythms, and sweeping grooves all coming together in multiple complex and rich tapestries, such as on songs like “Blissful Existence.”

The track’s busy, fuzzy and bumbling bass lines are shrouded by heavy layers of experimental psych-rock comprising complex guitar and percussion parts – it sounds like all of the instruments and vocals are swirling around inside a tornado.

As Nicholson explains it, his musical cornucopia includes “subliminal nods to Afrobeat, krautrock and jazz bubbling upon the horizon and melting into the kaleidoscopic haze form this swirling, vertigo-inducing mixture that takes inspiration from the past and transmits it skyward.”

On the second feature track from the album, the complex, “Life in Bloom,” Nicholson confirms influences like Tame Impala and My Bloody Valentine. That’s not hard to agree with as the track rifles away on a long psych-rock jam that goes on for at least four minutes, yet never loses its fire.

This is Nicholson’s first album with vocals. He describes his album as: “Bursting with crunchy psychedelic textures, blissed-out melodies fluttering overhead, explosive rhythms and intricate grooves whizzing by…and melting into the kaleidoscopic haze, Epiphany represents a total expansion of the sonic palette

Nicholson armed himself with a “plethora of effects pedals and an obsessive desire to push the sonic boundaries and expand the comfort zone.”

The album was written and recorded during a period of profound self-discovery and growth for Nicholson. He was also inspired by re-occurring dreams and a string of epiphanies experienced in nature.

Note: Flicker Vertigo is a condition that occurs due to exposure to flickering lights.

Album Review: Pete Cautious

Posted on by Kate Stevens

petecautiousThere have been plenty of strong debut albums that came out this year, but one of the best that went largely under the radar for no good reason is the debut from Chicago artist Pete Cautious.

The self-titled album is blooming with wavy synths, sunny electric guitar riffs and an overall sense of levity throughout, even though the lyrics themselves do not feel as important to Cautious as much as the instrumentations do.

“Most of the album was recorded as a stream of consciousness,” Cautious says.

“There was a bare-bones structure,” he adds, “usually a synth and simple drum track, and the rest I would just roll the tape and see what happened.”

“There’s something a little terrifying about it truthfully, like a tight rope walk without a net.” Because he records solo and totally DIY, “it’s a pretty honest environment,” he says, “I’m never sure what I’ll stumble upon.”

In fact, he cites the dreamy, watery track from the album, “Dreamin’ On a Sunday,” as of the songs that best reflect his ‘off-the-cuff’ style. The entire song was recorded in a day with his wife, Stephanie Koenig, adding the backup vocals later.

“I wrote the lyrics the night before, showed up in the morning, got my head straightened out and went for it. I think of it as Pavement-meets-David-Bowie.”

“Slow Down” was another such track – conceived and recorded quickly. While it’s an instrumental, it really has a cool summer jam vibe to it – “chill and sultry like a little Mac DeMarco, a little Phil Collins,” Cautious says. We dig it a lot and the comparison is not that far off in some ways.

The melodies and interesting vocals of Cautious come through with some distortion on the sunning synths and guitar-driven chords of “You and I”.

Cautious explains that the song “was the most thought out [song on the album] beforehand, and took the most time for better or worse.” He says it is also the most “complicated” song arrangement-wise on the album.

“The chords are really weird, but when you listen to it, it flows pretty easily,” he says.

It has the signature Cautious guitar sound on the opening riff like a bizarro acid-warped Stevie Ray Vaughn. A booming chorus, delays with plenty of definition. His solo vocals are intimate and unconventional at the same time.

The lyrics are also compelling: “A touch of hair/let my hands disappear/beneath your waves beneath your waves tonight/I love this view/oh I love the view/a canopy on top of me and you.” These are indeed some of the deepest and most sophisticated lyrics on the album.

Cautious’ lyrical content is largely fundamental, about love and attraction, perhaps about one girl throughout the recording.

“The Only Girl” is a bright, lumbering guitar track with Cautious’ lazy vocals – a song ripe for a hot summer day by the pool.

And the warm rays of “I’m Your Man,” features treble-heavily guitar notes and drum machine beats together with Cautious’ crooner-like vocals and keyboard taints. “She is Mine” has an especially sentimental feel thanks to high octane infusions of synths and electric guitar.

The track, “Go on Shine,” is a song that differs a bit from other tracks thanks to its New York jazzy saxophone vibe and Cautious’, particularly melancholic vocals.

The album closes with the drowsy. almost bed-time lullaby of “It’s Not the End,” with the final notes ending with an organ outro.

Clearly, his music is based on a propensity for warm, electric songs that are light and which do not follow any particular style as he weaves in and out of spontaneous musical expressions. You almost get the sense that he is playing out childhood fantasies that he can only accomplish as an adult musician.

He plays and layers the synth almost as a child would play a Casio keyboard – the difference is the level of artistic maturity – not expression – but without losing the child-like charm of his songs.

Pete Cautious Official Website

November Indie Songs Playlist, Vol. III – Tiny Kingdoms, Lightouts, Sture, Asher Evergreen & More

Posted on by Kat Nip Carver

The last best new indie songs playlists for November concludes with indie rock from Chicago and Philadelphia; the return of an Austin-originated indie band; an overseas band from Finland, and two singles from female artists out of Oklahoma and New Jersey.

Tiny Kingdoms – Chicago, Illinois
Lightouts – Brooklyn, New York
Sture – Seinäjoki, Finland
Asher Evergreen – Tusla, Oklahoma
The Ten Year Program – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sarah Sunday – East Brunswick, New Jersey

tiny-kingdoms

Tiny Kingdoms – “Tides”

The new song “Tides” is an energetic, melodic new indie rock single from the Chicago four-piece band Tiny Kingdoms.

The track features a memorable guitar hook and an ambitious chorus that drives the single forward with a rock and roll verve.

The accompanying music video is “an Alice in Wonderland type experience as the video follows the protagonist through a dreamlike adventure…the main character encounters a variety of odd characters as she travels through obstacles in an attempt to escape,” says drummer Jake Newling.

In addition to Newling, this promising band also includes guitarist and vocalist Nico Miura; bassist Nick Collis, and guitarist Ryan Mitchell.

The band thoughtfully balances various genres, such as rock and pop, to create a sound anchored by melodic guitar hooks, chugging percussions and robust, post-punk-style vocals. Their tracks are sonically robust and full of catchy harmonies.

Earlier this year, Tiny Kingdoms had a successful appearance at SXSW as an official artist after dropping the debut Stay.

They are influenced by, and fans of, artists such as Circa Survive, Taking Back Sunday, The Dangerous Summer, Everyone Leaves, among others.

Lightouts – “Lucky Strikes”

With band members living in various locales – Brooklyn, Austin, and even the Peruvian Amazon – of the western hemisphere, indie rock band Lightouts managed to write and record their first album in nearly five years via long-distance collaboration.

The release, titled Wake, has spawned the new single and accompanying video, “Lucky Strikes.”

To the dismay of fans, the band was on a bit of a hiatus.

“The greatest achievement on Wake, apart from the songs themselves,” explains guitarist and keyboardist Gavin Rhodes, “is making time seem to stand still,” Rhodes adds.

“Family commitments, geographic hurdles, vaporizing vocalists — all played a role in the unusually lengthy interval between Lightouts albums,” Rhodes says, adding: “day jobs, kid-raising, ayahuasca experiments, and shaman-searching to the mix.”

All of these things have informed the band’s latest work, something their fans have been waiting for since Lightouts debut E.P., More Than Ever, in 2015.

That recording was unusual, but exciting, by the very fact that ex-Dead Kennedy’s vocalist Skip Greer sang on the E.P. (DK fans take note)

In addition to Rhodes, the permanent band members include Greg Nelson (lead vocals, guitars); Dean Perry (bass guitars), and Josh Fleischmann (drums) first got together as an official band back in 2013.

That year’s debut release, Want, landed on a number of best of 2013 lists, and was also featured on IRC.

sture band

Sture – “Fabricated”

The powerful “Fabricated” is the first single from Seinäjoki, Finland indie rock band Sture’s upcoming debut album, Broken English.

The single was conceived at the last minute during a jam session. “We hit it perfectly and it fit nicely with our mood. We caught it using a cellphone,” according to Bohdan Holovan. Later, the band was able to use the moment captured live to construct a final version.

“While recording this song, we tried to create a simple, childish and naive sound without over-producing the track.”

Holovan said that he used a late 1980s Korean Stratocaster clone guitar and a “super cheap” Danelectro T-Bone distortion pedal plugged “into decent studio equipment.”

The album was recorded during the summer of 2018. At the same time, Holovan moved his family out of Ukraine to Finland. The other band members are in the process of moving to Finland, Holovan says.

Originally from Ukraine, the band started in 2016 as a “girl/boy duo” of drummer Katherine Martynova and guitarist and vocalist Bohdan Holovan.

The two met while attending the Ukrainian university in Zaporizhia, a “once-great industrial hometown.”

Sture’s debut single, “Elza Never Told You,” was released in July of 2017 followed a few months later by the single “Keyboard and Pillow.”

During this period, the duo transformed into a trio by bringing on bassist Maxim Fedoseiev.

For the past two years, Sture has been performing live shows and plan to continue to in Finland.

The band cites their biggest musical influences as The White Stripes, Blur, Oasis, The Stone Roses, and Pixies, all of which have informed their garage/indie rock and Britpop sound.

asherevergreen

Asher Evergreen – “Rejected”

The debut release from Brooklyn-born, Tulsa based, recording artist Asher Evergreen, “Rejected,” is an indelible number with a catchy modern pop sound full of powerful lyrics, delicate harmonies and of course, her strikingly husky soul vocals.

With her striking green hair, Evergreen catches people’s attention, but it’s really her music that gets noticed more than anything as soon as people hear it.

Her musical journey from humble musical beginnings up to now, with her own compelling debut release and a new single, has been one of perseverance and pure love for music.

Moving around a lot as a youngster she learned to substitute enduring friendships with music, turning to her songwriting and spoken word while developing a keen talent, and unique style, as a pianist and vocalist, as well as her unique style.

The green hair is just a small part of Evergreen’s personal identity. She aims “to bring positivity and ‘greenness’, the color of life, to people everywhere,” she says.

“It’s not just about entertaining the crowd to me, it’s about bringing them into my world, and visiting theirs.”

She certainly has made a mark with her breakout into the brave world of being noticed for her natural and acquired talents.

tenyear

The Ten Year Program – “Ambient Wet Dreams”

Philadelphia indie rock project The Ten Year Program was brought to fruition by two longtime friends and musical partners.

Multi-instrumentalist Ian Richards (guitar, bass, drums, synth) produced, engineered, wrote, and recorded the music while vocalist Jack McCracken carries the vocal duties.

The band’s single, “Ambient Wet Dreams,” has actually been out for a bit, but we like it so much that we added it to this playlist. The song starts with a wall of guitars.

The use of pedal tones effectively adds to the urgency of the work. The rhythms are clever, at times intricate, utilizing hemiola to create the illusion of competing time signatures. No one element detracts from the whole.

The duo has a wide range of musical influences, including bands like Glassjaw, Deftones, Sunny Day Real Estate, Deftones, Glassjaw, Pearl Jam, Jimmy Eat World, and Green Day.

Sarah Sunday – “Mental Zoo”

Calling her music ‘Europop Revival’ East Brunswick, New Jersey alternative pop musician Sarah Sunday has just released the audio and music video for her newest single, “Mental Zoo.”

The single has a strong playful edge with notable vocal hooks, pulsating downbeats and a tempo that flows evenly with a vein of pop and punk.

The sound and style of Europop and new wave that burned up the airwaves in the 1980s is alive again through Sunday’s embracing of retro vibe revival through channeling of pop and rock genres of the era, from post-punk to pop.

retains the same anthemically euphoric edge of your more conservative EDM Pop hits. Sunday verses the lyrics with an innocently playful vocal approach which gives the track an incredibly distinctive edge while doing nothing to compromise the accessibility of the single.

Sunday says her music is “inspired by a plethora of iconic female vocalists from Avril Lavigne to Debbie Harry.

A colorful character by her own words, Sunday also rides her fashionista verve wearing retro clothes and makeup with the angle towards punk rock. Yes, there are a lot of genres, but that is the nature and strength of indie rock.

Top 10 Songs, Sept. 2019: Ian Ferguson, This Daze, Moonroof, RBCF & More

Posted on by Kate Stevens
ianferguson

Yes, this Top Ten Indie Songs playlist is late. Apologies for those who look forward to our Top Ten playlists.

And while it’s late, it’s still great. All Top Ten Songs finalists were all featured on IRC during the month of September. These are the talented DIY/indie/alt. artists and bands who do not get enough love that they deserve. Maybe you’ll feel it here.

1. Ian Ferguson – Nashville, Tennessee
2. This Daze – Bergen, Norway
3. Moonroof – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
4. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – Melbourne, Australia
5. Smoking Alaska – Amsterdam, The Netherlands
6. Sun Blood Stories – Boise, Idaho
7. Avalon Highway – Midsomer-Norton, England
8. Sitting on Stacy – San Diego, California
9. Toui Manikhouth – Hamilton, Ontario
10. Lennox C.B. – Toronto, Ontario

The No. 1 spot for the month of September, the track that was streamed and downloaded the most on our blog and socials/RSS/email subscribers, goes to the Nashville solo musician Ian Ferguson for his unforgettable, swaggering garage rock romp, “Worried Walk,” packed with attitude and delivered with muffled lo-fi vocals and an relentless stomping beat and guitar riff all of the way through.

Following Ferguson at the No. 2 spot for September was the upbeat indie pop-rock single, “Young,” by the Norweigan indie punk band This Daze. Rounding out the Top Three is the indie rocking track, “Trojans” from Philly indie band Moonroof.

We will never end the quest to make sure there are some truly DIY/indie/alt. blogs that will keep looking for and featuring the under-the-radar talents. Over the years, IRC has helped launch the popularity of, or put a big spotlight on, hundreds of previously obscure artists and bands. But in order for us to do more coverage, we need your help.

 

Radar Love: Dan Atta

Posted on by Max Hammer

Los Angeles native and recording artist Dan Atta has been hailed as a rising musician and even a “triple threat.”

Without question, his music stands out and catches a listener’s attention in a way that reams of other submissions don’t. It’s different and yet familiar.

After listening to his fresh and new discography of solo songs, it’s easy to see why more indie music followers are turning to the captivating L.A. songwriter, vocalist, and instrumentalist.

His latest single is the gorgeous and unforgettable, “Deep Blues,” with its simple, lush melodies, and Atta’s beautiful, memorable vocals.

The feminine tinge of his voice works well. In fact, it reminds us of 1970’s soft rock/pop artists like Andrew Gold and Leo Sayer. Some of his fans and music critics have compared Atta’s voice and songwriting to artists like Christopher Cross and Bread.

Atta was recently quoted as saying: “Much of the visual inspiration is fueled by the song’s deeply-rooted nostalgia for a type of music that has become a rarity these days; a type of music that reminds us of simpler times when we would lock up in our rooms and blast our favorite C.D. to escape from the troubles of the world outside.”

Don’t be surprised if you find yourself – like we did – seeking out more of his music. The only problem is that there is not much music to find.

Atta is basically a new artist to watch. In a notorious city with more songwriters and musicians per capita than anywhere in the world, it’s not a small thing to turn heads with fresh music.

Not satisfied with dropping just audio of the song, Atta also put together his own quirky video using a 16mm Kodak film that explores “feelings of isolation and inner turmoil, even when we’re surrounded by family,” he says, continuing: “yearning to break the chains of obsessive thought, ‘Deep Blues’ reminds some of the transcendent power of letting go.”

“Much of the visual inspiration is fueled by the song’s deeply-rooted nostalgia for a type of music that has become a rarity these days,” Atta states, adding: “a type of music that reminds us of simpler times when we would lock up in our rooms and blast our favorite C.D. to escape from the troubles of the world outside.”

The only other track we’ve been able to find is the stunning “Intellectual Rewind.”

For now, though, “Deep Blues” is the main single and it deserves all of the attention it gets. Taken together, his short discography showcases Atta’s talents for well-crafted, sophisticated songwriting coupled with wide-ranging soundscapes.

Atta was inspired at an early age by The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and David Bowie. Because of endless hours of listening to these artists, Atta developed strong songwriting and instrumental abilities.

He taught himself how to play guitar while he studied literature and creative writing at Brown University, and his songs merge his love of language with his natural ear for melody.

His new debut EP, Fortune Tellers Lie, is coming out soon.

Album Review: Richard Shirk’s ‘Arcadia’

Posted on by Rick Sosa

Richard Shirk

Before you agree that streaming music killed the cult band, consider the strange tales spun in song by Oakland songwriter, vocalist, and musician Richard Shirk.

Shirk’s dreamy, lo-fi, psych-rock new album, Arcadia, has one foot firmly planted in the realm of the three-minute (or less) indie single and the other foot somewhere in a used bookshop in the Midwest browsing vintage Bradbury paperbacks.

AS one listens to the album, it’s evident that Shirk has a good ear for melodies and atmospherics, relying heavily on Casio keyboards, organs and sonic dreamscapes of lo-fi, experimental, psych electro-pop. (Not an easy one to pigeon-hole, nor is it that important)

He likes to describe his sound as “like college radio at one a.m. circa 1982,” and that is quite a fitting metaphor.

He apparently has been influenced by artists like Elliott Smith and Animal Collective. His songs lean towards acoustic, dreamy, experimental electro psych or however you want to string those descriptors together.

Shirk states that one of his favorite songs from Arcadia is “How to Dance How to Waltz.”

“It’s another song that just came to me in the studio and has taken a lot of time to unravel,” he says.

In time for the Halloween/fall season, the track is “a spooky tune in waltz-time about sleepwalking, astral projection, and psychic communication,” says Shirk.

“I’m pretty sure that it takes place in the kind of town that might be in a Borges or Gabriel Garcia-Marques book or short story.”

“I see the last scene taking place in the town hall (built from stone and about a thousand years old) as everyone gathers and in a mass, a communal psychic trip they dance: in a reverie/while keeping in time/they are holding the trance aloft.’”

The song, “The Goal Keeps Moving,” was partly inspired, Shirk noteS, by a Bruce Lee quote: “A goal is not always meant to be reached, it often serves simply as something to aim at.”

Shirk affirmS that he wrote and recorded the song in less than an hour, and during the same session as the single, “Alarms.” One could say he had a burSt of creativity that day.

“I first interpreted the song on the surface as something defeatist and shelved it for a couple of years,” he admits.

The track, he adds, is about “those times in life when everything is in flux and you think that you know what you want, but, in retrospect, you’re being pulled towards something else entirely. The goal is moving,” thus the track’s title.

The cool guitar noodle that Shirk added to the song is performed by musician Ric Wals-Smith who has performed in Japan with Ryuichi Sakamoto’s Yellow Magic Orchestra.

On the album, shirk plays guitar, keys, bass, sax flute and “spooky tubes, bow guitar, morse code, and wine glasses.” His wife performed vocals, keys, and the Glock on various tracks. She wrote the title track and performS the keyboard riff on her Casio SK-1. bassist and pianist LJ Simpson.

The title track, sporting a neat keyboard riff from a Casio SK-1, was written and performed by his wife Susan Chrsanowski.

“‘Arcadia’ is a place, a feeling, an archetype,” Shirk says. “I grew up in Iowa. Though it was near a college town, it was not near enough. I spent a lot of time stranded just a few miles from somewhere I couldn’t get to.”

The song, Shirk says, reminds him of a more simple time as a teen listening to mixtapes in his basement and “learning to play the guitar,” or he adds, “wandering around my small town at three o’clock in the morning when I couldn’t sleep.” He recalls one night of hiking six miles through soybean fields to a neighboring town.

“I navigated by dead reckoning and by walking towards a water tower all lighted up on a moonless night. I really love the refrain in the song: ‘there’s something all around you.’ I’ve always been interested in people who can read auras.”

Songs like “Prisoners at Zenda” and “Secret policemen” lack a bit of imagination and are so lo-fi that they sound like demos. We understand that is part of the intent, but for a 13-track album, every song really needs to count and stand out from the others to get and retain listeners.

The tracks like “At Esalen,” timing in at less than two minutes, with an organ riff driving it on. Apparently the two tracks under the one-minute mark are both about the second largest city in Texas, “Old Suburban Houston” and “Come on Back to Houston.”

The closing track, “Sleep Studies,” is fitting and the extended psychedelic jam is a nice touch to the end of an interesting and unique album that is quite enthralling too – especially for fans of experimental electro-pop lo-fi indie.

Shirk promotes his second album “as a collection of eclectic pop songs about escape – from small towns (‘Arcadia,’ ‘The Goal,’ ‘Secret Policemen,’) to the stars (‘Prisoners of Zenda,’ ‘Come on Back to Houston,’ ‘Old Suburban Houston’), and out from underneath the confines of conventional attitudes towards the supernatural (‘Inner Star Wars,’ ‘Tiger in the Shadows).”

He maintains, and it’s hard to disagree, that the album “rings and chimes with [Shirk’s] trademark spooky guitar tone, spectral voice, and the fingerprints of a childhood spent with pulp science-fiction and a dusty pile of records and warbling tapes by the Cars, the Ramones, and the Fall.”

With plenty of far-out themes and sounds, undeniably catchy hooks, and a persistent spooky vibe is “like a college radio chart countdown in the Twilight Zone.”

November Indie Songs, Vol. II – Ten Minute Detour, Alex Floor, The Rope & Others

Posted on by Kat Nip Carver

ten-minute-detour

This second indie songs playlist for November features artists and bands from across the U.S. and southern Ontario. Enjoy and please share to support DIY artists and bands.

Ten Minute Detour – Toronto, Ontario
Alex Floor – Western North Carolina
The Rope – Minneapolis, Minnesota
Summer Colds – Ashland, Oregon

Ten Minute Detour – “Bleeding Green”

The Toronto alternative rock band Ten Minute Detour cut their teeth in a small, detached, heatless garage in Calgary, Alberta.

Unlike the band’s previous singles, TMD’s new single, “Bleeding Green,” sports a more ambient-like guitar sound with smooth melodies, a chill beat and the impressive vocal work of guitarist Andrew Shier.

The accompanying video tears a page out of the old face-in-the-camera technique but switches it up a bit with green face paint sequences set to the track.

TMD’s fans will recognize that the song is a different and more sophisticated sound for the band; more mellow and emotive.

Since the band’s inception in 2016, their style has been raw garage rock with a rough and riffy classic rock sound, tube amps and wild vocals, backed by hard-hitting drums.

While their signature sound of the past was garage rock, Shier says many of the band’s songs were created using a “different recipe.”

Shortly after recording started, Shier, along with guitarist/vocalist Jordan MacNeil – the founder members – moved from their western prairie homeland in Alberta to Toronto, a city that has experienced a burgeoning indie music scene for years.

Unavoidably, the move also resulted in some of the Alberta-based band members’ departure from the band. That of course changed the band’s sound to what has surfaced here in 2019.

The band’s maturation as songwriters and musicians is notable and it will likely serve them well moving forward.

The other talented band members of Ten Minute Detour are keyboardist Matt Drake; drummer Kaol Porter, and bassist Jake Rowinski.

TMD’s sophomore album, Common Pleasure, was recorded “over a harrowing seven days” and serves as a testament to the band’s growth in songwriting and storytelling.

Producer and former Cage The Elephant guitarist, Lincoln Parish, was brought on to polish things off like a pro.

The band’s debut album, Lay It Down, was recorded in Alberta in 2015, featuring tracks like “Four Papers” and “Getaway,” two catchy alt. rock tracks that helped pave the way for the band, and lead to hundreds of live performances across the expansive country of Canada.

TMD’s biggest musical influences include Kings of Leon, Alabama Shakes, Arctic Monkeys, and Cage the Elephant.

Ten Minute Detour on Instagram

alex-floor

Alex Floor – “Speed Up Or Slow Down”

During the day, North Carolinian indie musician Alex Floor writes code and manages computer networks.

But between work and parenting, he finds time to write, record, master, and produce provocative and thoughtful songs.

His newest single, “Speed Up or Slow Down,” was originally written a few years ago following a divorce. A co-worker and friend helped encourage him to record the track. And so he did.

The track starts with a treble-high programmed beat and the introduction to Floor’s soft vocals and sweet melodies.

The track, which uses minimal instrumentation, takes on his anti-folk vibe and yet the beautiful aspects of the sound do not tinge the melancholy that is clearly present. It’s a really nice touch and Floor pulls it off capably.

In fact, we encourage folks to take the time to listen to his other accomplished songs such as “Keeping Me Up” and “Now That You’re Gone.”

Floor grew up in the Midwest rustbelt, lived in Brooklyn for a decade and now resides in the mountains of western North Carolina with his wife, children, cats, and dog. You could say that gives him a unique cross-reference of America for songwriting and musical tastes.

His musical influences include, but are not limited to, artists and bands like Elliott Smith, The Shins, Vampire Weekend, The Decemberists, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Joshua Radin, Cary Brothers, Dan Costello, and Brian Speaker.

IRC first featured Floor’s early single, “Borrowed Earth,” from his self-released debut album, American Peasant, back in 2010. In 2012, he dropped a respectable follow-up E.P., Finding A Middle.

Alex Floor on Soundcloud

the rope

The Rope – “Now You Know”

Based in one of the Midwest’s music capitals, popular Minneapolis alternative post-punk band The Rope just recently dropped their debut long-play album, Lillian. The album has received strong support, including on The Rope’s Bandcamp page.

Spawned from Lillian have been a number of standout tracks, including the newest single, the dark, eclectic, guitar-driven track, “Now You Know.”

The album features a collection of ten tracks featuring the blending of gothic, post-punk, new wave, darkwave, and alternative rock with clear 1970s and 80s influences.

This past year the band has toured, performing at the UK’s Sacrosanct and Germany’s Gotham Sounds festivals.

The band members are founding member and vocalist Jesse Hagon; drummer Ben Rickel; guitarist Michael Browning, and bassist Sam Richardson (bass).

Initially formed in 2009, The Rope released their eponymous debut E.P. in 2011. After a series of line-up changes, the band returned in 2015 with their second EP, Waters Rising.

The Rope’s musical influences include The Cure, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs, My Life w/ the Thrill Kill Kult, and Sisters of Mercy.

https://www.facebook.com/TheRope1

killing-flies-summer-colds

Summer Colds – “Killing Flies”

The rising Ashland, Oregon indie rock trio Summer Colds return again with another track, “Killing Flies”, from their debut album.

The track opening with a snarly-style vocal delivery, a tepid background beat and a wall of guitars. Once the song opens up a bit more and really gets rolling, it’s a solid track.

However, the vocals could be better; they are understated like “dude, why you holding back?”

The growing pains of a new and young band. The guitar solo at the ending of the track is cool and how it merges with the other instruments.

Earlier this year, we featured the band’s debut single, “Whiteout,” which helped fuel the band’s visibility locally and online.

Soon we’ll be posting our review of the band’s debut album, Here Comes Nothing. Straddling between, and mixing, genres such as alt. rock, pop-punk, and power pop.

After recording two albums with his former band Black Bears Fire in 2013 & 2015, songwriter, songwriter, and vocalist Nic McNamara founded Summer Colds “to bring to life a heavier sound” than his previous folk-rock project.

He recruited drummer and vocalist Claire Burgess and bassist Nicole Swan to complete the band.

“Unlike many other songs on the album,” says McNamara, “this was written in its entirety a few months before the album was released.”

“It came in a flash of inspiration, triggered by running into an ex-girlfriend who had taken a self-destructive path.”

The song came together quicker than usual and ended up setting the standard for what the mixing and production of the rest of the tracks on the album would sound like.

Summer Colds has opened for a bunch of bands over the past five years, including Slow Corpse, Old Year, Calyx, The Juniper Berries, Yr Parents, and Glacierwolf.

The band’s biggest influences include Weezer, White Reaper, Surfer Blood, Pup, Brand New, and Wavves.

https://www.facebook.com/summercoldsband

Album Review: Miles on End

Posted on by IRC Staff

milesonend

From the midwestern plains arrives the music of the relatively new Kanasan indie band Miles on End.

Their own one-sentence pitch is a damn good one at that:

“From the high plains of Kansas, Miles on End is a groove rock band which has carved an audible canyon through the thick sod with interwoven guitar melodies and funky rhythms.”

Nice, huh?

And the band backs up it up with an eclectic and jam-loving style on their debut self-titled album.

The album opener, “Hit The Heat,” is a chunky-funky lo-fi rock burner with shifting rhythms buoyed by a sweet little jam and guitarist Nathan Engel’s understated vocals.

Following is the slower and more instrumentally-driven track, “Electric Plantation,” which starts out with an interesting garage pop swagger and totally develops into a full-throttle highway rock blazer. The song then slows down again into a Jerry Garcia-like riff-out.

The band’s penchant for jamming to the rafters is not to be overlooked or even underappreciated. In fact, their live shows are famous for long late-night jam sessions.

Engel says the next track on the album, “Flatirons,” is one of Miles on End fans’ favorites at live shows. That’s believable thanks to its bluesy/jazzy intro that transitions smoothly into more alt. rock/garage elements that work nicely and make it one of the strong tracks on the album.

The song was named for the Flatiron Mountain range outside of Boulder, Colorado. The band members had a treacherous and unforgettable hiking experience there which led to the song’s title and lyrical content.

Opening with a funky groove and blaring guitars, together with sick percussions from drums and bass, “Dead Ends,” has a darker appeal than other tracks on the album. But also like so many tracks on the album, it transforms into a full-on jam and emerges from the darkness.

Next is the rambunctious, energy-driven indie-pop piece, “White Walls.” Engel said it is one of the tracks that fans love at shows. It is also, he says, a track that “seems to best encapsulate the band’s diverse groovy dance rock sound.”

“The song is catchy and features a fantastic trance-like instrumental break that really gets a crowd moving,” he says.

“The Skirmish of Trinidad” is an interesting instrumental; it opens with soft waves and seagulls and transforms into a chugging rock track that is something of a mini adventure features various transitions that one could say is part of the band’s signature sound. Engel said it is intended to “musically paint a picture of a pirate naval battle in the Caribbean Sea.”

The closing track, also an instrumental, is the funky, riff-driven, “Of Crickets and Constellations.” It is not the campfire song of your parents.

Engel said it came from a book that he cannot remember and symbolizes that which is “all-encompassing; everything in the world, from big to small, from crickets to constellations.”

Miles on End was formed in 2017 by brothers Nathan (vocals, guitar) and Ryan Engel (guitar). Soon after, the band brought on bassist Nick Schlyer, percussionist Keith Dryden, and trumpet master Layne Moe.

The band’s music inspirations are varied and include bands and artists like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Doors, Steppenwolf, The Allman Brothers Band, James Brown, Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, Grover Washington JR, Miles Davis, Donald Byrd, and Grant Green.

It’s sweet to see an appreciation for great music among young bands since too many of them are trying to do something they think sells rather than do what they enjoy the most and make them stand out. These cats mix all them styles – rock, funk, jazz, blues, R&B – into one good time.

For a debut album by a DIY indie band, this is a solid start. It could have used a bit more polishing in sound quality/production department, but nevertheless, a respectable first outing from a band that has something different going on and who you can tell enjoy themselves.

The LP was recorded at Blue Moon Studios in Mulvane, Kansas and mixed and mastered at Heavy Eleven Studios in Hays, Kansas.

 

Artist Spotlight: Troels Thorkild Sørensen, aka, he is tall

Posted on by Max Hammer

Dad-song
he is tall is the moniker of Danish artist Troels Sorensen

Danish songwriter and musician Troels Thorkild Sørensen’s tracks have been playing on regular rotation here in the cafe for a couple of weeks, and we are happy now to share this promising talent with all of you.

Sørensen’s new track, “Dad,” is melodically and harmonically surprising and original, wholesome and comfortingly beautiful.

The single is a tribute to his father with lyrical content that explores deep feelings and thoughts about when his father will no longer be around.

It may at first seem a bit premature to write a tribute song to a father who is still alive, and presumably still relatively young, but Sørensen said he wanted his father to be able to hear the song since he obviously wouldn’t be able to after death. (That was a strange sentence to compose)

Sørensen personally found it sad but also “quite meditative” to write and record the song.

It’s a heartbreaking song instrumentally with a bumping guitar vibe and finger-picking all of the way through and vocals and choruses that you won’t hear probably anywhere else.

Now a resident of Copenhagen, he grew up in the small town of Mårslet, near Aarhus, Denmark. He records under the moniker, he is tall, with an emphasis apparently on lowercase letters.

Retreating solo into the countryside, Sørensen recorded the song in a small cabin where he grew up. He captured the natural surroundings with sounds from a passing river, bird songs and the dancing of wind through the trees. He then mixed the samples into the song during mixing.

Coincidentally, Sørensen is actually not that tall, he says, but he feels tall when he goes on the “small stages around Demark” with just his guitar. He expresses a sense that he grows on stage when he plays and “shines with confidence.”

Sørensen said he initially made an impact in the Danish underground music scene and that some have compared him to the legendary Jeff Buckley. We can sort of see that in a way, especially with the unique vocals and delivery.

His musical influences cross genres from indie-pop to hip hop, which he merges interestingly into some of his tracks.

Danish national radio host Sebastian Saxton said about Sørensen during a live broadcast: “I think your style is really original and it’s difficult for me to see how others should imitate you – which is rare praise to give – so thank you so much for your music. I really appreciate it.  I really think your vocal is strong.”

In May, he is tall released a single “little brother” which received airplay in the United States and in Denmark. The track was also featured on Spotify’s playlist Discover: Indie Rising Denmark’s Nordic Hits Playlist by Bands of Tommorrow.

Another song from last year, “Open Mouth Pt. 2”, is a piano-driven singer/songwriter heart-bleeder. A melancholy song, the theme of missing his loved ones plays out once again; obviously, his family is on his mind; perhaps it’s homesickness.

Over the past decade-plus, we have been fortunate enough to be the first indie blog to feature at least many dozens of artists and bands that went on to bigger things because of being featured on IRC.

Something tells us that Sørensen has a good shot at being one of those artists if he plays his hand well.

Follow he is tall on Facebook.

November New Tracks, Vol. I – Loud Library, Desilu, Paul Vernet & More

Posted on by Kate Stevens

The first indie songs playlist for November features exciting new DIY indie artists and bands from across the States, plus an artist from The Netherlands.You can browse other 2019 playlists too in other posts – some getting hundreds of likes on Facebook and other socials.

Please share and enjoy. Have music to submit?

Loud Library – Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Desilu – Austin, Texas
Paul Vernet – New York
Distant Creatures – Washington, D.C.
Ugochill – Amsterdam, The Netherlands

loudlibrarybandmilwaukee

Loud Library – “Recycle Bin”

Formed in 2018 as an alternative pop band, Milwaukee outfit Loud Library are making a splash lately and their new kinetic single, “Recycle Bin,” is proof perfect.

The song is a full-throttle indie-pop track with enduring energy, catchy hooks, and strong vocal work.

“It was meant to have a catchy rhythm and be a fun tune,” says vocalist and bassist Ben Smith.

Light strums on an acoustic guitar start the intro coupled with gentle vocal harmonies and the line: ‘I’m falling on my face again,’ which the band says is basically “about going back over and over again through the same routine until one spirals out of reach.”

“The song mainly speaks about a person being in situations where they hit rock- bottom over and over,” says Smith, “but ultimately he doesn’t throw in the towel. It’s just recycling back to Point A.” A satirical vocal with a falsetto tone comes in at the conclusion of the track.

A summer-feeling piece, “Recycle Bin” also includes a trademark indie “ooooo” chorus. The band wanted to make the track as memorable as possible and feel – and are correct – this type of chorus sticks in people’s heads – with some even wanting to play it again just for that aspect.

There is some really remarkable vocal work going on at the outro of the track. We cannot think of when we have heard such unique vocals. It’s impossible to forget.

“It tries to emulate someone actually falling in a downward spiral,” he says, continuing: “The outro was something fun, something different from the other parts of the song with the singer repeating the phrase like he’s in a loop.

“Overall, this was a song that meant to sound energetic, hopeful, with portraying the message of mishaps that happen.”

The other band members are Garrett Holm on guitars and Judicael Bationo on drums. The band’s influences are Maroon 5, The Talking Heads, and FUN.

desiluband

Desilu – “Dunes”

Another unordinary love song comes from Austin psych art-rock band Desilu. The band’s new track,
“Dunes” is a trippy post-punk “rendition” of the classic tale about an Egyptian mummy searching for his long lost love.

The synthesized tones supporting the traditional overdriven punk rhythm were created using an Earthquaker Devices Rainbow Machine, Red Panda Tensor, and Korg Minilogue.

Very little studio production was put into “Dunes,” the band says, allowing the song to retain its organic and live presence. The song was inspired by the relentless heat of the summer months in Austin. It gets real, real hot these days. It was hot back in the day; but not like in the past decade.

The band is Darryl Shaw-Rockley (guitar); Joe Johnson (bass); Tyrone Webster (drums); Lisa Taylor (synth), and Zane Andrews (guitar).

They are one of Austin’s many excellent bands that don’t get the recognition they deserve; or that they maybe would get elsewhere where there is less competition.

We have seen this often with Austin-based bands – too many good bands went to Austin in the past two decades and it’s changed the entire culture. Look at SXSW these days – it’s become over-corporatized.

For many, it’s a thrilling cultural experience, but most ultimately find they’re “just another good band” in a town that has more bands per capita than probably anywhere else in the U.S.

We’ve heard plenty of artists and bands say they probably could have made a bigger impact and received more attention if they stayed where they were or if they moved to a city other than Austin. It’s a tough town to make it as a band. Desilu is one band that has beat those odds.

The band members have unique musical influences are many: Gold Leather, Mars Teller, Bridge Farmers, Cortége, Flyin Lion, Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol, Black Basements, and What Tyrants.

Their general interests range from “guitars; effects pedals; synths; massive evil robots and tiny adorable robots; dinosaurs, and vinyl records;” to “UFOs; ghosts, monsters, and Sister Act 1 and 2.”

Desilu official website

paul-vernet

Paul Vernet – “Skipping Stones”

Paul Vernet is an upstate New York ‘new’ classic rock artist.

Many people are confused by the term but it’s basically about bringing fresh sounds and production to the classic rock sounds that have dominated music for at least four decades and is still kicking in many places today, particularly outside of the United States as far as fan volume goes.

But Vernet is committed to making an impact right on American soil with a sound that is not the ordinary bar band style.

A self-taught multi-instrumentalist, Vernet’s full musical biography is something of a mystery.

His new single, “Skipping Stones,” from the album Burning Sounds, features a long and storied history in rock and roll.

The single is punchy, solid pop-rock track with airy guitars and chugging rhythms with a real sense of appreciation for the sonics of classic rock while also making its own style and songwriting.

The track oozes with catchy melodies throughout interrupted by keyboard interludes and atypical guitar solos.

The song is ultimately about loss and grieving: ‘Guess I’ll just have to throw this pain away/all it does is make my heart skip/like a little black stone/on a frozen lake.’

But Vernet doesn’t make it a sad or depressed-sounding song – perhaps in a way to cope. Rather, it’s an uplifting song that subsequently wins in the end.

Interestingly, his biggest musical influences are Burl Ives, Tiny Tim, and The Troggs.

Last spring Vernet’s single, “Pregnant Widow,” from the album, Burning Sounds, got picked up by New Rockstars playlist and accumulated nearly 10,000 plays on Spotify alone just from that placement alone.

“I had hoped that would mean there would be some spillover to my other stuff, but that really hasn’t happened yet,” Vernet says.

That is the feeling of many artists and bands today. Racking up 10, 20, 30K plays on Spotify feels great for a few weeks until it drops and fades off.

That’s not Spotify’s fault. And it’s not the fans’ fault. That is the time when an artist needs to be serious and invest some resources into building on that momentum so that it doesn’t fizzle away. But that is easier said than done; many artists and bands don’t have the big funds the agencies require.

distantcreaturesband

Distant Creatures – “What Became of the Girl”

Washington D.C. indie rock band Distant Creatures has dropped their final album after officially disbanding earlier this year.

While the band’s followers may not be happy about the news, they cannot deny the impressive last recording, aptly titled Whorl. The track picked for promoting the album is the impossible-to-ignore song, “What Became of The Girl.”

When it comes to dream pop in particular, these cats delivering it up in barrels of shimmering guitars and synth layers melded with an overall optimistic vibe despite lyrics that are often sad and lovelorn.

Library Group Records assembled this 12-track collection of the band’s unreleased recordings for a posthumous album that the band’s hardcore fans have been waiting to get their hands on.

Much of the album is inspired by real-life experiences, “realizations of hurting the ones we love the most and searching for forgiveness,” the release states.

The recordings reveal the band’s penchant to blend indie pop and shoegaze against rich glittering tapestries and stories of heartbreak and redemption.

Whorl was mixed by Collin Warren (Wicked Sycamore) and mastered by Sarah Register (Depeche Mode, Asobi Sesku, Brand New).

It’s impossible of course to talk about the album without mentioning the infusions and elements of folk, brass and classical string instruments to help create the dreamy, lush world the band was known for in the D.C. area.

Distant Creatures formed in 2015 and has opened for rising indie stars Hatchie, Land of Talk, Fanclub, Sound of Ceres and Winter.

ugochill

Ugochill – “Familiar”

Ugochill is a music project of Serbian/Dutch Amsterdam-based veteran musician and indie artist Alex Rado.

Rado functions as a standalone independent artist, producer, and promoter, but his works also include collaborations with various friends and artists from around the world.

The latest single “Familiar” is an original, retro-rock guitar-based instrumental track that also has an accompanying music video produced using various visual elements from a group of content creators.

The band says the song is “about reaching that point in life when things stop looking new but become rather familiar instead; the transition from child to parent.”

The track is from the forthcoming album Chill em All due to drop soon. Rado’s musical influences are Pink Floyd, Joe Satriani, Mike Oldfield, and Jeff Beck.

https://www.facebook.com/ugochill

Album Review: Moron Police

Posted on by August W. Zander

moronpolicealbum
This dazzling artist fantasy work comes from Norweigan artist known as DULK

Norweigan indie band Moron Police return with their long-awaited third album, A Boat on the Sea, the follow-up to the band’s widely acclaimed sophomore album.

So, was the five-year wait worth it?

Hell yeah.

In fact, don’t be surprised if after you listen to this album, you think “wow, this is amazing.”  Moron Police are good at turning casual listeners into loyal fans.

A Boat on the Sea kicks off with the harmonic and melodic-heavy, piano-driven track, “Hocus Pocus.”  Right away, the listener is pulled in.

On the following track, “The Phantom Below,” Moron Police bursts into a heavy prog-rock intro which then evolves into a spirited pop/rock vibe.

The song’s prog-rock riffs come on strong again later in the track, providing plenty of glitter and pizazz, together with a full-throttle chorus, crashing cymbals and dazzling keyboard work.

If you like powerful music that is a bit quirky and brimming with sweeping melodic hooks, this may be one of the 2019 albums you need to hear.  One cannot listen to this album without being transformed.

To that end, it’s easy to see how this talented band of professional musicians has attracted fans from different corners of the planet.  They are superb instrumentalists, composers, and performers.

They have received mad support just on Bandcamp alone in recent years, and it hasn’t been any different for  A Boat on the Sea.  Rarely do we see DIY bands attracting the level of support on Bandcamp Moron Police has acquired.

One fan, Jack Price, wrote on their Bandcamp page: “Quite possibly the jolliest album released this year. Bouncy, energetic prog rock provided by some mad folks from Norway.  Strikes that fine balance between being quirky enough to be unique but traditional enough for each song to get stuck in your head with their infectious melodies.  If you can listen to this album without having the biggest dumb grin on your face at least once then your heart is made of stone.  Favorite track: Captain Awkward.

Moron Police’s previous albums, including their 2012 impressive 12-track debut, The Propaganda Machine, have not only attracted fans worldwide but have also garnered praise from the international press and radio DJs.  They followed that up with their sophomore effort, Defenders of the Small Yard, another 12-track album of amazing music, and which also received big support among their fans.

This time around, five years later, Moron Police “eschewed their metal origins and focused on a progressive rock/pop sound, while still retaining their eclectic style of genre-bending music,” it states on their Bandcamp page, adding: “The album is filled to the brim with catchy melodies and leitmotifs that will have you humming along until your ears start to bleed…in a good way.”  That’s true.

Speaking of the airwaves, “Invisible King” is very much a radio-friendly track in every sense of the word. Interestingly, it has an almost veiled tinge of old country rock from the 1970s that keeps it from sounding too radio-friendly.

“Beware the Blue Skies”  is an uplifting, bright track with a swirl of keys and buzzing guitars, and an undeniable rhythm that can turn any gloomy day into a few minutes of sunshine. Again, the performance and talents of these musicians are impressive; a band that was meant to be.

Next, the listener is treated to the jazzy, funky track, “The Dog Song,” that very much possesses an alt. folk/country rock vibe.  One would not be totally crazy to assume these guys could be from the States, not necessarily Norway.

The infusions of various genres and other musical influences – informed by their musical educations and backgrounds – is so remarkable that one actually comes away with a renewed sense that there is so much music “out there” that isn’t getting its full appreciation.  (We’re doing our best to bring our readers/listeners the best music they don’t get to hear anywhere else.)

One of the markers of a good band is one that can switch it up, mix genres in exciting new ways, and stake their ground in the indie world with a unique signature sound.   Moron Police have accomplished this again and again now with three albums of rich, energetic, even spell-bounding prog-pop/rock of its own style.

One of our favorite – and many of their fans’ favorites too – tracks from the new album is the thrilling, energy-driven and fascinating – almost epic in a sonic cinematic way (if that makes sense) –  “Captain Awkward.”  (Frank Zappa fans take note).

Here’s what another fan wrote about the band and their new album:  “No other band in the world takes me to my happy place in quite the same way as Moron Police.  Every single note sounds like they’re having the time of their lives, and they’re inviting you to do the same.  Listen to everything they’ve ever done.  Immediately. Favorite track: The Dog Song.” 

“The Undersea” comes blazing out of the gates in a bright, complex melody coupled with the fitting vocals of Sondre Skollevoll, who also commands guitars and keys.  The other highly talented (and we don’t use that word lightly) band members are Lars Bjørknes (keys, piano, organ); Thore Omland Pettersen (drums), and Christian Fredrik Steen (bass).

The album closes with the seven-minute-long, “Isn’t It Easy.”  The track’s intro, like many of the band’s songs, is a full-throttle prog-rock onslaught, featuring more complex and rampant guitar, bass, key, and percussion playing, and switching.

Following the intro, the track changes radically, becoming – at least for a short time – a piano and vocal-driven pop song that once again blossoms into a terrific piece of music all around. As the others have said – this is one of the best DIY albums of 2019.

Each time we spin it, a new world opens up.  It’s kind of like a really cute baby – you can’t resist saying or thinking, “what a gorgeous baby” and no one disagrees or gets tired of looking at the baby.

The band says that they hope that A Boat on the Sea, as a piece of art, “offers something different to those who would listen.”

The album aims to be, the band says, “catchy and adventurous, but with an underlying current of Scandinavian melancholy—as perfectly captured by returning cover artist DULK.”

It has huge choruses, rampant guitar play, inventive synths, a plethora of time-signature changes—all the workings of an album of excess, yet it comes together to form a cohesive whole.

Perhaps its most defining feature is that it sounds like Moron Police and no-one else, and no manner of superlative spluttering could really hope to capture its spirit.  The best way to describe it would be to hear it.

The album was produced by Sondre Skollevoll and Lars Bjørknes and mixed by Mike Watts at VuDu Studios in Port Jefferson, New York, and mastered by Dag Erik Nygaard.

Moron Police was formed back in 2008. Since then, the members’ careers in music have seen “many strange twists along the way.” 

They’ve played live with a full-piece orchestra; one of their songs was performed on tour by the award-winning Los Alamitos Show Choir; they have performed across Scandinavia and at various festivals
like Hove, Norway Rock Festival, and even held a show on a small island with a historic lighthouse surrounded by the maw of the seas.

 

Epic Psychedelic-Hindustani Track, “Astrokaut,” from Angad Berar

Posted on by Max Hammer

AngadBerar

Based in the Indian city of Bangalore, composer and musician Angad Berar employs analog instruments, woods and recorded samples to create sonic experiences that are informed by the world around him.

He likes to call his music “a concoction between 1960’s psychedelia and Hindustani music” of his homeland. Such elements are clearly audible while listening to tracks from his eight-track debut album, Elephants on the Beach.

The instruments used on this album include an Ibanez art core guitar, MAudio Oxygen midi and samples recorded over a Zoom 505.

One of the standout instrumentals from the album is the 16-minute long ‘Kraut epic’ called “Astrokaut.” While devoid of lyrics, Berar says it has a fairly involved storyline that inspired it.

“Astroknaut,” he writes, “is comprised of three chapters. Throughout the song, the protagonist travels through different spaces and environments until finally, in the end, he reaches inner peace, highlighted by a sample of Buddhist chants.”

Some of the noise here was accomplished using a steel bowl (Katori) played on the guitar and later passed through an echo pedal in the DAW, Berar says.

In the final chapter, the protagonist is in constant motion amidst growing chaos around him until he reaches a crescendo followed by peace.

“I divided the song into different chapters and gave each of them a different treatment. Creating the second chapter was super fun because it let me use tools and methods of playing the guitar which I probably wouldn’t have used.”

“The listener is introduced to soundscapes created by hints of reverse guitars, white noise samples, and cacophony of echo pedals,” he concludes.

Berar says its the tale of reminiscing of his college days spent on the beaches of Anjuna, Goa.  The album was recorded in his home studio over a few months. It was mixed and mastered by producer Ashrey Goel.