Thursday, July 14, 2022

ALASKALASKA Announce New LP 'Still Life', Stream Title Track

South London alt band ALASKALASKA (headed by Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley) have announced the release of their new album 'Still Life'.

The 11-track album will be out on October 14th via Marathon Artists. The production on Still Life kick-started in August 2021 with producer and musician Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco), nestled in the idyllic Kentish countryside, opposing the somewhat grimier setting the album was written in. This collaboration, added to their ideas and maturing musical sensibilities, allowed the record to bloom into a beautiful, hard-to-describe thing that embraces a more free-form electronica. It also finds lyricist Duarte-Holman at her most contemplative,"... touching on themes of the beautifully mundane and the privilege of being able to recognise those things.” That is what a Still Life often depicts, explains Duarte-Holman, “...it can be a celebration of material pleasures or a warning of the ephemerality or overconsumption of these things - and of the impermanence of human life." If there's one thing the pandemic taught us, it's not to take anything for granted.

To accompany the exciting news they've shared the title track with a video. 'Still Life' finds writers and producers Lucinda Duarte-Holman and Fraser Rieley embrace a more free-form electronica, giving a taste of what's to come with this fantastic new record produced by Jas Shaw (of Simian Mobile Disco)–full of digital sounds, drum machine and synth melodies cunningly sat beside rich, organic, acoustic instrumentation, it's a looping tug of war between existential dread and everyday simple pleasures. 

The track delves into the irony of connecting to each other through screens, though they're largely being used for our own vanity, distraction, or surveillance. The band says: "Still Life asks, is what is supposed to connect us on a worldwide scale being used more for vanity/ego, distraction or even surveillance/control? 'Look at it breed, modern greed...'. It's a bit of a cautionary tale, much like 1984...if you get my drift. Still though, there are glimmers of hope - 'I've got the seed in my pocket....' as in I've got seeds to sow, seeds to grow. Small gestures can make big changes." 

Check out the album's tracklsit and watch the video for 'Still Life' (shot by Jacek Zmarz), below.

Still Life Tracklsiting:
1. Growing Up Pains (Unni's Song)
2. TV Dinners
3. Person A
4. Still Life 
5. Pressure
6. Rise And Shine
7. Get Me High
8. Glass
9. Simple
10. Flowers
11. Long Lasting Pleasure