Analog Candle 'WINTER ’15' EP out soon
EP release: 'Winter '15' by Analog Candle
Release date: 2017
More Info: Band website
Hailing from New York City via England, Chicago, New Orleans and Boston – Analog Candle is an expressionist, avant-garde dream-pop collective formed by producer and songwriter Callum Plews.
Originally from England, Callum was inspired to create Analog Candle after collaborating with an array of musicians while living in the magic and bustle of New Orleans. The project began over six years ago, after Callum realised he was more comfortable with the concept of others performing and interpreting his creations than he was embodying them completely himself. Bringing together performers from the realms of avant-garde, folk and emo, the initial group began recording at Callum’s bedroom studio, and self-released a number of songs online under the moniker, Analog Candle (a reference to the Arcade Fire album ’Neon Bible’).
Influenced by the early albums of Animal Collective and Broken Social Scene, experimental-pop outfit Xiu Xiu (Callum has worked with Angela Seo in the past), acts like Arcade Fire, Beach House and the surrealist and absurdist creations of literary heavyweights like Haruki Muramaki, Franz Kafka and Sylvia Plath - the ‘art-rock’ collective is also largely dedicated to the hybridization of pop music and production technique. In this way, after settling in NYC, the 'Winter ’15' EP became the culmination of a variety of cultural and musical viewpoints.
In terms of the EP itself, and conversely given the circumstances in which it was born, the lyrical content reflects Callum’s apprehensions on personal relationships, as well as the uncertain fragility that followed him around during his first winter in NYC. Each song is intended to provide a small window into how that winter progressed, as well as mapping the chronology of a doomed relationship.
Album opener ‘Scarlett’s Web’ features delicate female vocals that hover above shimmering electronic effects, while its lyrical themes allude to the beginning of the end of a love affair, “I see where my body is / But my heart’s far away”. Elsewhere, ‘Trier’, a wavy slice of electronic pop, explores flashes of real life pain - ‘Lying aimless in bed / With all the books that stay unread’ juxtaposed with buoyant electronic currents.
Themes of reminiscence and rejection sit alongside concepts of expressionism, and throughout the EP, heightened emotion is given a front seat over exact realism in the form of piercing lyrics that twist and linger like smoke-trails.
Callum says: "Living in a brand new city can grind one to dust very quickly - work, love, friendship - it all gets distilled and intensified. I sought to recruit the most talented indie musicians in NYC, and bring life to these difficult, common experiences. The 'Winter '15' EP lies squarely between the 'experimental' and 'pop' music genres, and is intended to be a lyrically driven 'audio' mosaic - a recorded art project of sorts."
The EP concludes with the ghostly ‘Space Dreams Of You Too’ and with lyrics like ‘I’ll see you in another life’… the next incarnation of Analog Candle promises to be just as ethereal and fluid as the present one…