Saturday 27 January 2018

***ep review***alaska - whitewash the tidemarks***

alaska were formed in hamburg 1994. 

they are influenced by british 80s wave music, shoegazer noise-pop and the so-called c-86 scene (named after a compilation tape by the british music magazine nme) and bands like the field mice, teenage fanclub, the pastels, bmx bandits, the wedding present and belle and sebastian.

torben schmieder (vocals/guitars), christoph martens (bass), stephan dublaskie (guitars), björn steffens (keyboards) and patrick menck (drums) describe their music as briskly, nostalgic, contemplative and fragile in combination with hymnal, melancholic moods and a curious voice, resembling a bit the young dan treacy.
 

so now, their brand-new 'whitewash the tiedemarks' coloured vinyl ep is on my turntable...
4 years have passed since their second full-length
'these sacred floors' released at the fine german record marsh marigold label.
 

the new mini-album offers 6 tracks with a total duration of
22 minutes between melancholy and yearning, circumspect indierock and sensitive indiepop.
 


the opening track 'motorway', a stunningly indiepop earworm with longing synthlines is about breaking out from a miserable life while frontman torben philosophizing size differences from human kind and the vast cosmos.

'every other monday', a wonderful midtempo track shares the idea of distributing umbrellas in various situations of life while there's no one close to you when you urgently needs a heartly touch.


 
in 'we don't sing anymore'
jonathan rhys meyers' 'tumbling down' from the velvet goldmine soundtrack appear in front of your mind's eyes. 
the song is a beautifully sad piano ballad about jilted from a beloved person.
 
'no more sorrow', a fine jangly upbeat tune implied a nice and safe place to escape for feelings of inferiority.



the epic 'non silent night' illustrate a self-doubting personalty 
and 
'naked killed babies', another heartbreaking dreamy poetic piano ballad marks the end of a magnificent ep!



'whitewash the tiedemarks' is out on limited coloured vinyl january 31th and digitally february 16th via marsh marigold records.
 

grab your copy here...
https://alaska5.bandcamp.com/album/whitewash-the-tidemarks

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