Tag: John Parr

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Splitting their time between Stockholm, Sweden and Olso, Norway, the acclaimed dream pop trio Postiljonen, featuring Norwegian-born Mia Brox Bøe and Swedish-born Daniel Sjörs and Joel Nostrum Holm quickly received national and international with the release of 2013’s full-length debut Skyer; in fact, the album was nominated for Best Pop album in the prestigious Swedish Award P3 Guld — and as a result, of the growing buzz surrounding the band, they wound up going on several tours across Sweden, the European Union, Asia and the US with stops on the festival circuit. 2016’s sophomore album Reverie, which was influneced by California winds, Chinese gardens, late Lost in Translation-like nights in Tokyo and Swedish forests received raputous praise with Cocteau Twins‘ and Bella Union Records‘ label head Simon Raymonde nominating “The Open Road” as one of the best songs of that year.

“Chasing Stars,” is the first bit of new material from the acclimed Scandinavian trio — and it’s the first taste from their highly-anticipated third, full-length album, which is currently slated for release sometime next year through Hybris Records. Much like their preceeding efforts, the members of Postilijonen holed themselves in an isolated cabin in the remote Swedish woods. As the members of the band explain in press notes, “When making music for Postiljonen, it has always just been us three locked away in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, really. The whole world of Postiljonen is so personal to us and it is a world that we created between the three of us.” The new single will further cement the Scandinavian trio’s growing reptuation for crafting a swooning and achingly nostalgic take on dream pop while expanding upon the sound that has won them national and international attention. Centered around a breezy yet cinematic, 80s-inspired production featuring arpeggiated and shimmering synths, a motorik-like groove, a jazzy but power chord-based guitar solo, soaring hooks and Brox Bøe’s soaring vocals, the song sonically manages to recall John Parr‘s “St. Elmo’s Fire,” as well as Yumi Zouma‘s and St. Lucia’s euphoric synth pop, complete with a lush studio sheen.

But underneath the studio sheen, the song is a buoyant and feverish day dream. As the band explains in press notes, “‘Chasing Stars’ is about the longing for that someone who you used to be very close to. While the lyrics might come across very heartbreaking – there’s still a sense of underlying hope that someday somewhere you’ll be together again, chasing stars. It’s nostalgic as always. It’s the chasing that is the magic and essence, forget about the reaching. We actually started writing this song three years ago but it couldn’t come at a better time for us.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

B

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Introducing the Soaring and Earnest Synth Pop of Norway’s Chain Wallet

With the release of their self-titled debut, the Bergen, Norway-based dream pop act Chain Wallet, featuring core members Stian Iversen, Christian Line and Frode Boris, quickly received attention both nationally elsewhere for material that was infectious yet hazy and melancholic synth-based pop. Written in and by inspired by the trio’s hometown, their full-length debut is centered around a narrative structure in which a deeply conflicted protagonist is followed throughout — while thematically, the album focused on unresolved ambition and the desperate attempt to let go of the past. 

The trio’s highly-anticipated sophomore album No Ritual which is slated for a February 15, 2019 release through Jansen Records found the members of the up-and-coming Norwegian dream pop act retreating to a small cabin on a remote beach in southwestern Norway. And while walking the beaches and hanging out among surfers, the members of the band were inspired by the surroundings — and interestingly enough, the album continues to follow the protagonist of their self-titled debut but thematically speaking, the album finds him in a state of spiritual limbo, desperately reaching out and trying to establish new symbolic meanings.  Interestingly, the album’s first single “Ride” is a gorgeous and cinematic bit of synth pop featuring an arrangement of shimmering synths, equally shimmering guitar lines, a motorik groove and a soaring hook that to my ears reminds me a little bit of John Parr’s “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” and contemporaries like Moaning and others; but with an earnest yet effortless slickness. As the members of the band explains in press notes, “Ride” was the first song they wrote for their sophomore album, and “thematically, the song evokes elements of ‘the drifter on a cook bike’ trope. It’s about riding away from something, not realizing that you can’t outride your own demons.” 
Directed by the members of the band, the recently released video finds the members of the band literally riding different modes of transportation but juxtaposed with shots in static environments. The video is decidedly DIY in nature, but as the members of the band explain, “To be honest, the idea for this video would be too complex to capture with the technology we had at hand (a VHS camera and iMovie),” the band continues. “We adjusted the artistic vision, and went for a literal interpretation of the title. This is why the video ended up being a neat collection of shots of the band riding different means of transportation, juxtaposed with shots in static environments.”