|
Pulse of the Twin Cities Login |
|
If you do not have an account yet
Create One.
|
|
|
Twin Town High (vol. 8) |
|
|
|
|
Halloween Alaska: First “The O.C.” . . . then the world
Wednesday 18 February @ 11:05:06 |
 by Rob van Alstyne
Halloween Alaska in short: old faces in new places making genre-defying music. Now for the long version...
Formed in early 2002 as a collective effort between singer/guitarist/keyboardist James Diers (Love-Cars), keyboardist/programmer Ev (12Rods) bassist Matt Friesen and percussion master David King (Happy Apple), Halloween Alaska slowly cobbled together the down-tempo dulcet electronic tones of their debut album over the course of 18 months in St. Paul’s Integral Studio (co-owned by Ev).  The limitless studio time enabled the group to leisurely assemble a pristine layered album that would stand up to repeated listens. “We definitely benefited from Ev being a studio co-owner,” claims Diers. “It allowed Ev and I to take our time trying to babysit certain sounds. To work on tracks and then revisit them weeks later with a different perspective, we got to walk within the songs for awhile, it was really different from how I’d worked in the past, but I soon realized that I’m the type of personality that could sit and tinker with that stuff forever. The only way we got it done was by just coming up with a loose release date and sticking to it, otherwise we could have just sat and pondered everything over again.”
After finally unleashing their slow-roasted record on an unsuspecting nation in December (Halloween Alaska had played out locally “two or three times” prior to their debut release, according to Diers), things took a rather unexpected turn for a local indie album—people started paying attention—in droves. As of this writing things are getting pretty heady in the world of Halloween Alaska—their album stands at No. 30 on the national college radio charts and suits over at Fox’s teen smut ratings sensation “The O.C.” just enlisted the band to contribute their song “Des Moines” to a new episode of the series that will be airing February 25.
To what does Diers attribute their rapid success? “I think it’s just a case of everybody genuinely wanting to work on the music together for its own sake and people responding to that,” claims Diers. “So far I think we’re kind of letting the response see where it takes us. It’s all still living and growing and now that the first hurdle of getting a recording done is over we can see how it interacts with the world. Before that it was just this band that people probably didn’t know existed. There’s still something very edifying about having a record out that makes you feel like your band is actually a real thing.”
Halloween Alaska’s “edifying” powers aren’t limited solely to its creators, however, as damn near everyone with a set of ears will find something inspiring in the deep grooves and airy spaces of the album’s eight hypnotic tracks. Starting off with the hushed relationship meditation “You’re It” (already a Radio K staple) and closing with the redemptive “Telling Me,” Dier’s pleasing, gentle voice sketches perfect snapshots of relationships in flux, spinning tales of dissolving trust and shifting loyalties atop warm layers of keyboards and computerized beats. Able to heighten mundane minutiae with a clever turn of phrase (“I was only getting dressed/Now I’m getting disaffected”), Diers once again proves himself an excellent craftsman. “I think certain details and mundane experiences definitely help to universalize emotional experiences,” claims Diers, granting some insight into his songwriting process. “Just paying attention to the little subtleties of the way people interact in close relationships is really fascinating to me. Really small physical manifestations of emotion, that’s the kind of stuff in people’s heads that constitutes a kind of universal language. Recognizing gestures or just things in your house that might represent aspects of your life situation.”
Although set to a far different beat than the electric crunch of Love-Cars, Diers’ words fit snugly within the posh digs of Halloween Alaska, whether the band’s crafting smooth pop tunes (“Call it Clear”) or disturbing ambient soundscapes (“Halloween”). The group expertly balances its varied bleeps in a manner that makes sure the core melody of its songs never meander—no matter how many disparate sounds are thrown into the mix. The result is a lush yet surprisingly deliberate electro-pop album. “As somebody who’s really ignorant about electronic music,” admits Diers, “I think maybe the difference [in our songs compared to other electronic-pop] is that the songs are written for a band and they’re written in the same way that rock songs or pop songs are written. Everything that we recorded was originally written for live performance, so everybody’s looking for something that fits the whole. They’re essentially pop songs with pretty basic elements and so when we bring it in to record them we’re more careful about what we add.”
Despite the band members’ various obligations with other groups and demanding day jobs (Ev handles lead engineering for various projects at Integral Studios and Friesen recently started his own carpentry business), Halloween Alaska have artfully avoided the dreaded “side-project” tag so far—and plan on keeping it that way. “I don’t think we ever defined Halloween Alaska [as a side-project] because it was just like starting a band but on a much slower time line. It took longer, but the same level of commitment was there. I think certain expectations are a little bit more tempered, but I think that’s good. It’s allowed us to not be too anxious. The response that we’ve seen so far has just fed our enthusiasm, we hope to keep our hearts and our heads into it.”
Halloween Alaska play Fri., Feb. 20, at the Cedar Cultural Center with Poor Line Condition and DJ Pat Morita. 8 p.m. $8 adv/ $10 door. All Ages. 416 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-338-2674.
Click here to download an mp3 of Halloween Alaska’s song “You’re It.”
You can find out more about Halloween Alaska on their official website.
|
|
 |
|
|
Comments -
Post Comment |
|
The comments are owned by the poster. We are not responsible for its content.
NO comments yet! Be the first!
|
|
|
