Tag: Nic Harcourt

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: United Ghosts’ Trippy Visuals for Their Shimmering 4AD Records-Inspired New Single

The Los Angeles-based dream pop duo United Ghosts, comprised of Sha Sabi, who came to Southern California after stints in New York and San Francisco; and German-born Axel Ray, who spent a 12 year stint in London before relocating to the States — although on some level, it’s a bit of a misnomer, as they’ve received attention for a classic 4AD Records-like sound centered around boy-girl harmonizing and draws from dream pop, psych rock, shoegaze and krautrock.

The duo’s 2013 full-length, self-titled debut and its follow up, Dear Electric Sun EP received airplay from BBC’s Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne, KCSN’s Nic Harcourt, KLOS’ Mark Sovel and XFM’s John Kennedy and a number of others. And after three successful UK and European Union tours, a number of Stateside dates that included CMJ and SXSW, followed by an L.A. residency, the duo of Ray and Sabi returned to the studio to work on their Mark Rains and Axel Ray co-produced sophomore album, Saturn Days, an album that thematically and lyrically explores modern life, love and disconnect in a world that’s equally dystopian and beautiful, in which hope is laced with paranoia and where dreaming your way out might be the only chance to survive.

Saturn Days’ latest single “Waves,” will further cement the duo’s reputation for crafting material 4AD Records-era dream pop, the prerequisite shimmering guitar chords, motorik grooves, enormous power chord-based soloing and dreamy boy-girl harmonies — but with a subtly modern touch,.

The recently released video for “Saturn Days” is comprised of performance footage of the members of United Ghosts with their live band shot by Arian Soheili with superimposed drone footage by Steve Payne, underwater footage by Alex V. and images of Saturn courtesy of NASA and the Saturn Cassini mission.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: The Surreal 120 Minutes-Inspired Visuals for Dead Leaf Echo’s Anthemic “Strawberry.Skin”

Now, if you’ve been frequenting this site throughout its almost seven years of existence, you’ve come across posts featuring the Brooklyn-based shoegazer rock and art collective Dead Leaf Echo. And over that same period of time, the members of the collective have seen a growing profile, as they’ve played at some of the country’s largest and best known festivals, have opened for a lengthy and impressive list of renowned, nationally touring bands including The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes and have made appearances on KEXP‘s John in the Morning and on Nic Harcourt’s KCSN show.

With the release of 2013’s 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut effort Thought and Language and 2014’s true.deep.sleeper EP, the band quickly established themselves as one of the preeminent, contemporary shoegazer rock acts while being quite busy — last year, they quietly released a split EP with die you die, as well as a limited cassette run of the “Lemonheart”/”sparks.fly.from.a.kiss” 7 inch, which interestingly retained the well-known and beloved wall of sound and swooning urgency along the lines of RIDE, Swervedriver, The Verve and Slowdive while nodding at Primal Scream, The Jesus and Mary Chain and others.

Interestingly, the band’s latest effort Strawberry Skin was released last week through PaperCup Music and the EP found the band working with frequent collaborator and producer Monte Vallier, who has also worked with Weekend and Wax Idols — and along with Vallier, the album features contributions from Jorge Elbreht, who was a founding member of Violens and is currently working with No Joy and Ariel Pink’s backing band and Guy Fixsen, who has worked with My Bloody Valentine and Wire, among a lengthy and impressive list of artists. The EP’s latest single, EP title track “Strawberry Skin” will further cement the band’s reputation for crating shimmering and anthemic shoegaze with a swooning urgency; however, the song possesses a abrasive and muscular quality just underneath the surface — and it reveals a band subtly experimenting with their sound.

Directed by Emmanuella Zachariou, the recently released music video possesses a dream-like logic reminiscent of 120 Minutes-era MTV, complete with action going forward and in slow-motion as though the viewer is in a fever dream. The band is playing two shows to support the EP, so check out live dates below — and be on the lookout for the band’s long-anticipated sophomore effort, slated for release later this year.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

If you’ve been frequenting JOVM over the past couple of years, you will likely be pretty familiar with the Brooklyn-based music and art collective Dead Leaf Echo. The band has a growing national and international profile as they’ve made appearances at SXSW, CMJ, NXNE, Northside Festival and the Beautiful Noise Festival, toured with and/or played one off shows with The Wedding Present, A Place to Bury Strangers, . . . And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead, The Psychedelic Furs, Chapterhouse, Ulrich Schnauss, Weekend, Lorelei, The Ocean Blue, The Warlocks, Beach Fossils, and The Telescopes. They’ve had a number of singles top CMJ’s Top 20 Indie charts and have appeared on renowned indie station KEXP‘s John in the Morning twice, and on Nic Harcourt’s KCSN show. 

Their 4AD Records-inspired full-length debut Thought and Language, a concept album that followed a child from his conception, through birth until he grasps thought and language was released to critical praise across the blogosphere. The follow-up to their debut full-length, true.deep.sleeper was produced by Monte Vallier, who’s best known for his work with Weekend and Wax Idols was released last year.

Currently, the members of Dead Leaf Echo are in the studio working on their sophomore full-length effort, with Vallier taking up production duties. But in the meantime, the band released a 7 inch single last month and made an appearance at the Desert Stars Festival on a bill that included Swervedriver and The Lemonheads. “Lemonheart” is the first single from the 7 inch and the song reveals a subtle change in their songwriting arppaoch as the gorgeously shimmering guitar chords jangle so subtly and are paired with forceful percussion and ethereal vocals floating just above the mix, while still remaining faithful to the shoegaze sound that has captured the attention of the blogosphere.