DARK CAPTAIN
Dead Legs & Alibis
LOAF47
LoAF 2011
10 Tracks. 61mins01secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

In the three years that separate Dead Legs & Alibis from its predecessor, London-based quintet Dark Captain have found themselves on the road quite a lot, criss-crossing Europe and the US, as well as bagged themselves a ‘single of the week’ spot on iTunes in the US with their single Jealous Enemies, and, crucially, dropped half of their name to return to the original Dark Captain of their early days. During that time, they also considerably honed their soft psychedelic folk, working on their songs to give them more substance and filling them with a stronger dynamic.

On their debut album, Dark Captain presented a series of beautifully crafted pop/folk songs with a gentle experimental touch, served by delicate instrumentation and softly brushed vocal harmonies, and this is what fuels much of Dead Legs & Alibis too, but the songs show a much more mature and confident approach, as demonstrated with songs such as first single Submarines, Different & Easier or the superb 8000 Reasons. Whilst not drastically different from anything from Miracle Kicker, these songs feel overall much leaner, the wonderfully delicate and shimmering instrumentation is more polished, and the melodies are tighter.

This is not to say however that Dark Captain have lost any of their original charm. Whilst some of the more upbeat pieces denote a will to expand on their sound, the softer side of this record offers moments as elegant and evocative as any on its predecessor. The beautiful Long Distance Driver takes a somewhat mundane story and turns it into a breezy motorik moment. Later, Fade or Flickering Light prove particularly dreamy pop songs, while Right Way Round or Ex Detective somehow bridge the gap between the Dark Captain Light Captain of old and the more focused Dark Captain of today.

Mention should also be made of the three digital bonus pieces, Bellecurve, the instrumental Jealous Enemies (West Avenue Version) and especially New Dark Interval, which showcases a much more ambitious side of the band. Spread over eight minutes seventeen, this song builds from a delicate acoustic guitar motif into a progressively more complex and electric formation, before it eventually dies down in a flurry of fuzz.

Dark Captain have established a very definite ground for their work, and here, they go deeper into its many corners to expand on the finely crafted sound of their debut. They don’t shake up things too much, but add more refined touches throughout to emphasise the natural elegance of their songs. With Dead Legs & Alibis, Dark Captain show a much more focussed approach to their work, while fundamentally retaining the very essence of who they are.

4.3/5

Dark Captain | LoAF
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD Spotify: STRM

SEELAND
How To Live
LOAF38
Lo Recordings/LoAF 2010
10 Tracks. 34mins50secs

Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

Seeland is the meeting of two like-minded musicians, both hailing from Birmingham, who have, through their respective previous bands, contributed to the retro-futuristic movement which emanated from the second English city during the mid nineties. A former guitarist with Broadcast, Tim Felton left the band after their second album, Haha Sound, and joined forces with ex-Plone Billy Bainbridge, who had been part of the Broadcast caravan during the band’s 2003 tour. Brought together by a common love of Neu!, Harmonia and Cluster, amongst others, the pair began working together and released a first single and EP on Stereolab’s Duophonic in 2005/6, eventually resulting in a first full length, Tomorrow Today, published on Lo Recordings’ sister imprint LoAF last year.

Now also counting bass player Neil McAuley, Seeland continue to develop their particular blend of electronic pop on their second album, How To Live. But, while the overall sound shares with its predecessor an obvious affinity with dreamy electronic textures and refined melodies, there is here a newly found confidence and a much more immediate feel to these songs. Tomorrow Today was recorded over quite a long period of time, but for How To Live, the band chose to bring the conception and recording time to a much shorter scale and capture some of the spontaneity of the live environment.

Casting deceptively simple tunes over gentle instrumentations, Seeland create very effective little pop songs, but behind this apparently innocent facade lies the essence of the band’s sound. Right from album opener Black Dot, White Spider, the imprint of their influences is clear, yet this is considerably softened by Felton’s linear vocals. Later on, the trio combine playful electronics, acoustic brushes and upbeat melodies to bring songs such as Afterthoughts, Local Park or How To Live to life in quite colourful ways, while the gentler Cardinal, Armour or Been So Long can at times evoke the naive electronica of Plone. But it is with the superb Awake In A Dream and Recall that Seeland really hit the spot, their clear-line melodies, beautiful sound structures and discrete yet effective vocal harmonies making these perfect stylish songs in the purest pop tradition.

Seeland have undeniably found their niche. Away from the mainstream, they craft an artisanal form of pop music which is overall very charming. Seeland may be harking back to an era where experimentation was a way of life, but they temper that with a taste for simplicity which give their songs a much welcome dream-like feel.

4.2/5

Seeland | Seeland (MySpace) | LoAF
Amazon UK: CD | DLD US: CD | DLD Boomkat: CD | DLD iTunes: DLD

Formed by former members of Plone and Broadcast, Seeland first appeared in 2005 with a seven inch single released on Stereolab’s Duophonic, followed the year later by an EP. Both releases showcased the band’s beautiful electronic pop which would be developed further on Seeland’s debut album, Tomorrow Today, released last year. With a second album under their belt, themilkman caught up with ex-Broadcast Tim Felton to talk about starting from scratch and finding a label, writing songs, the retro-futuristic sound of Birmingham, the revival of Krautrock and taking the band to the next step.

It’s been a little bit over a year since the release of Tomorrow Today. What have you been up to since?
After the first LP came out we played a few shows and festivals and worked on the odd B side and remix. Other than that we pretty much went straight into writing new tracks and developing some existing tracks in preparation for a second LP. Our drummer Fuzz left around this time and that made us focus on writing and recording. We finished mixing in March of this year and the band line up stabilized at the start of the summer with the addition of Tom Fisher on drums. This line up has played just a handful of shows but that includes headlining a festival in Estonia and a radio session for Marc Riley.

Having been members of Broadcast and Plone in the past, how did the idea of Seeland come up? Was it difficult to start all over again and get noticed?
When Plone broke up Billy played keyboards on tour with Broadcast following Roj’s departure. We got on well and shared some musical influences. When I left Broadcast I wanted to continue writing music and it seemed natural for us to work together.

The act of writing and recording wasn’t that hard but we kind of existed in a vacuum as far as profile. We had no press (apart from Fact Magazine who gave us record of the month for the first 7”) profile whatsoever and no one really working on our behalf. It felt like we had potential but had no idea how to realise it or get it across to people.

Your first couple of releases came out on Duophonic, but you later joined the ranks of LoAF. How did you get to work with both labels?
Duophonic was Stereolab’s record label which was run by Martin Pike who managed Stereolab and Broadcast. When I left Broadcast we remained on good terms so when the first single was ready it seemed natural to approach Duophonic. Duophonic did a great job on the pressings etc but it is a tiny, part-time label with no PR/A&R, so making any one aware of the releases was difficult.

After the second Duophonic release which we had great hopes for but didn’t sell very well, we were kind of adrift. Some people seemed very depressed about the record industry so we went to ground and just focused on recording an LP even though we had no one to put it out. It’s hard to stay focused when there is no end in sight but in 2008 we started to send out CDRs to various record labels containing three or four tracks from the unfinished LP. People were very nice (those who got back) but the majority said that they weren’t signing anything.

LoAF’s was the most positive of the replies we got and eventually they came to see us play in London and we got on really well and they seemed to be music fans above all (which is a most important thing). The rest is history.

Seeland is a vocal-based project, and unlike in Broadcast or Plone, you both sing. How did you make the transition from musicians to musicians and singers? Was it quite a natural process for you?
I’m the lead vocalist in the band but Billy does contribute mainly as a backing vocalist. When we began working together, my demos contained vocals whereas Billy’s were instrumental. For this reason it seemed natural that I would take the role of lead vocalist.

Broadcast was a vocal based project as I would write songs with a vocal as the band progressed. This was something which I wanted to expand on so it was one of the starting points for Seeland. Having said that I had and still have a lot to learn vocally.

Seeland was originally a duo, but it is now a quartet, with the addition of Neil McAuley on bass, and Tom Fisher on drums. How has that changed the dynamic of the band?
It’s a lot more realised as a band and a lot more fun. Billy and myself are still the primary songwriters but the current line up is working really well and it feels like there is more potential. It can get a bit cabin feverish with just two people.

Your second album, How To Live, is due out very soon now. It seems slightly more purely pop-orientated record than Tomorrow Today, or perhaps it is that your sound is more confident this time round. Did you approach working on it in a different way? Was it a conscious choice to get ‘poppier’?
With Tomorrow Today we were isolated with no real plan for release so we would continually meddle with songs. There was no end point so it started to feel more laboured. Once that record was out it felt important to be more spontaneous, to have a feeling of movement. Writing songs isn’t really a problem so it felt it would be better to release more and try to define our selves through mistakes and successes rather than nothing at all.

All the Seeland releases have been pop records to a degree and a nice melody is something we both like so it has been quite natural. Being gloomy has its place and I think we have our moments of melancholy but doing this record quickly, has defined itself in a way.

Your songs seem rooted in everyday life. What inspires you to write? Where do you find the material for your songs?
I guess the first time you get the experience of empathy with a record or book or piece of art and you say that’s how I feel or it talks to you in some way its something you want to repeat and emulate and share with someone else. Of course there are no guarantees….

Inspiration comes from everything around. For instance, we have an EP of cover versions coming out and the lead song is Abraham, Martin and John by Dion. This came about from listening to a Jerry Springer ‘Inheritance Tracks’ interview on Radio 4.

As far as lyrics, I guess its part experience, part hope and part fantasy. Awake in a Dream.

I write down lots of things, fragments and phrases and have themes or ideas that may live with me for some time until they are ready to surface as songs

Do  you have a set way of working on songs? Are they the fruits of jam sessions, or do you sit down and work out how the song is going to sound before?
Generally Billy might write a piece of music and I will add the vocal melody and lyrics or I will write a song  and give it to Billy and he will develop it. Some things come out of jam sessions and it seems to happen with more frequency. Local Park is an example of this where the riff and the vocal melody happened almost immediately and it was quite straight forward to flesh it out. It’s quite light hearted really.

There is a certain naivety and innocence in your music, similar to what the music of Plone had, which seems to stem from what sounds like very simple melodies and arrangements. Do you intentionally keep things simple in your songs?
Simplicity is best in music I think and the temptation to over complicate things can be hard to fight. I think with the first LP, we had a tendency to do this because there was no time constraint. This was one of the reasons for wanting to do the new LP over a shorter period of time. So in a way there is knowing in the naivety.

This extends to the sounds you use, which once again sound pretty straightforward, but is this really the case?
All the sounds are carefully considered and with the new LP there was a sense of wanting to restrict the palette somewhat so as to be more direct. Hopefully with this LP there is a depth in the sounds that reveal themselves with each listen.

There is a very distinct Birmingham sound, which is often referred to as retro-futurism, which has been championed by many bands in the last fifteen years, including of course Broadcast, Pram or Plone. What makes Birmingham such a ‘retro-futuristic’ place?
Hmm, I’m not sure really. Certainly all the bands you mention happened around the same time so maybe something got into the water supply. Maybe because Birmingham was a major industrial town and so quite ugly we looked for the optimism that was behind all the mess. “It could have been like this” in a sense.

You named the band after a song from Neu!’s third album, Neu! ’75, and your sound is often described as Krautrock-infused. How has the genre in general, and bands such as Neu!, Cluster or Harmonia in particular, influenced you over the years, and what is it that attracts you about it?
Neu! are great and they remind us of the power of rhythm much in the same way as say the J.B.’s. It’s funny when people say Krautrock because what do they mean ? Kraftwerk certainly bare little resemblance to Amon Düül. I guess mainly people think of it as a kind of mechanical repetition. What I really like is the Cluster/Harmonia crossover. Specifically the influence of Rodelius because it feels as though he can realise a romantic sentimentality inside the machine of repetition.

It seems like there has been a renewed interest for Krautrock in recent years. Why do you think that is?
I guess the socio-political landscape has changed. In the seventies Kraftwerk/Faust/Can had some measure of success in the U.K. Years ago Jonny Rotten sited krautrock as an influence and there is a striking similarity between certain Neu! tracks and Mr Rotten’s vocal approach. But the public are now more European in a sense. I can remember being in Woolworth’s in the seventies and some kid wanting to buy some Airfix plastic german soldiers. His father replied ’what do you want bloody Germans for?’ Whatever. As time passes bones are picked over and the internet has made obscure things accessible.

Do you have any plans to take the new album on the road, and if yes, what can people expect from Seeland live?
We plan to play in the UK in October and then on to France. I think there is more energy live and I think this surprises people. In Estonia the crowd were very receptive and we had great feedback.
One chap saying after “You made me dance! I never dance at shows.” So who knows ?

Julian House has been responsible for all your record covers, and he has also worked on covers for many of the bands you are or have been associated with. Was that your choice to work with him again, and how important is it for you?
The covers for the Duophonic releases were done by myself and a chap called Rick Cooper but Julian has done everything since. Julian’s work is great and we were very happy when he agreed to do the artwork. His work lends an atmosphere that works well with the music I think.

Once again, there is a good synergy between your sound and that of his label, Ghost Box…
It’s nice that we have some involvement with Ghost Box like the Advisory Circle remix etc. We share some aesthetics and we respect their work so again all very natural.

How do you see Seeland evolve in the coming years?
Well I think we have plenty of ways in which we can develop so we will see. I am looking forward to playing more shows and developing as a live band a bit more. There is no shortage of songs at the moment so it would be good to have another LP out next year.

What kind of music do you listen to when you’re not working on music of your own? What is the last album you bought?
It varies, I have sort of habitual things I return to which is in a way comforting. Being skint I don’t buy that much but I still occasionally trawl charity shops for oddities.

What’s next in the Seeland diary?
We are trying to put UK shows together for October/November. We also have some dates in France in October and maybe a show in Greece. Hopefully then more shows into the New Year. Also we have the ‘Under Abraham’s Mind’ EP out soon and we also plan to release the earlier pre LoAF recordings as a compilation.

If you could take any combination of five records, books, films with you, which ones would they be?

It’s a bit random but here are five films.

1. Pick Pocket
2. The Shadows of Our Forgotten Ancestors
3. Nuts in May
4. Mein Krieg
5. Festen

Email interview, September 2010. Thank you to Tim Felton and Sean Newsham

Seeland | Seeland (MySpace) | LoAF

SEELAND
Tomorrow Today
LOAF23
LOAF Recordings 2009
12 Tracks. 43mins23secs

Buy: CD | iTunes

Formed at the end of 2004 by Tim Felton, who previously officiated as part of retro-futuristic sci-fi popsters extraordinaire Broadcast, and Billy Bainbridge, once a member of fondly remembered electronic entity Plone, two of Birmingham’s finest bands of recent years, Seeland released their first single on Stereolab’s Duophonic in mid 2005, followed by an EP a year later. Since, they have grown into a trio as bassist Neil McAuley joined the ranks, and have developed their sound to fit the realm of their first long player.

Fond of old style library music, BBC Radiophonic Workshop, Joe Meek or early German Krautrockers à la Kraftwerk or Neu!, Seeland add some refined pop touches which find their roots in the early to mid eighties synth pop of the Human League or Depeche Mode to create a rather warm and inviting record with Tomorrow Today. Effortlessly assembling little pop gems, wrapping gentle catchy melodies around delicate electronic motifs, drenched in pre-Autobahn Kraftwerk, old Doctor Who sound effects and library music-style polish, the trio create a dreamy and vivid soundtrack, where tones contrast without clashing and forms are all rounded and smooth. There is an element of naïve simplicity here, a trait inherited from Plone’s magnificent For Beginner Piano, which is reinforced by Felton’s linear and voluntarily expressionless vocals, especially on Colour Dream, Call The Incredible or Pretty Bird.

While the pace is overall pretty gentle, the trio occasionally raise the bar a tad to venture into brighter territories, flirting with happy-go-lucky pop (Turnaround), feel good summery tones (Captured), or effervescent hi octane acidulated pop (Goodbye, Static Object), all to great effect. Elsewhere, Seeland cast a slightly hazier shadow over the wonderfully light and fresh Library, with its deep slashes of guitar, or on the slightly psychedelic 5 A.M.

Whichever path they chose here, Seeland deliver pretty much constantly. All the way through, they create a surprisingly refreshing and charming soundtrack which manages to be experimental without sounding the least remote, and modern while rooted in sixties and seventies early electronic.

4.3/5

Seeland (MySpace) | LOAF
Buy: CD | iTunes

DARK CAPTAIN LIGHT CAPTAIN
Circles
LOAF17
LOAF 2008
04 Tracks. 16mins35secs
Format: CD/Digital

London’s ever expanding (it seems) and mysteriously named Dark Captain Light Captain came together in early 2006 around the nucleus of guitarists and vocalists Neil Kleiner and Dan Carney, and have since grown into a full six-member outfit, but their music has lost nothing of the fragility it had in the early days. Circles is the band’s second release and follows last year’s debut single Jealous Enemies/Mid-Session Interval. It is also the prelude to the band’s first album, scheduled for later in the year.

Building their songs around gentle vocal layers and harmonies, brushed with acoustic guitars, soft rhythmic patterns and discreet electronics, DCLC have undoubtedly refined their sound since Jealous Enemies and developed the music lexicon which informs their work to great effect. From the overtly pastoral textures which serve as foundations for these four songs, the band draw wonderful crisp and detailed vignettes which appear to constantly change tone as each song grows.

There is a strong feeling of unity throughout this EP, an impression carried perhaps by the omnipresence of gentle, yet rich vocal harmonies, but the particularly delicate arabesques of opening song Circles are unique to this piece. While the main guitar motif continuously swirls around the main vocal line, a recurring piano pattern comes in and out of focus in the background. Robot Command Centre may seem, at first, simpler, but as the song progresses into the chorus, once again DCLC weave a wonderfully intricate and warm sonic tapestry, with fine details shimmering through the dense layers of the piece.

With no rhythmic section to support the shorter They Be Underwater and Walls, these songs appear more stripped down and fragile. On the former, DCLC compensate by laying static noises and atmospheric found sounds over the opening and closing section of the song, and by pushing the acoustic guitar a bit more toward the back to let other elements come through. The guitar returns to the forefront on Walls to create a peaceful backdrop for the tale of everyday violence

With this confident release, Dark Captain Light Captain reassert their position as one of London’s most promising acts. In just four songs, the band showcase a strong palette which relies equally on the subtlety and density of the music and the moods and tones set by the intricate vocal layering. Circles is without a shadow of a doubt one of the strongest EPs of the year so far!

4.7/5

Dark Captain Light Captain | LOAF
Buy: CD