Slaughter Beach is Nikolaj Westi, Mads Emil Aagaard and Hasse Mydtskov, a founding member of Bella Union indie-rock outfit The Kissaway Trail. The Danish trio have already made a name for themselves from making guitar pop with last year’s ‘Love/Venice’ EP. Following it up on June 3rd via Norwegian label Brilliance, new single Glaze sees them return better than ever, packing loads of hooks into under three minutes. The guitar lines hint at The Radio Dept. or The Strokes, but ever more contemporary influences shine through: the production bravado of Tame Impala for instance – during the floating gossamer bridge and in the second verse as the song almost dissolves away completely. The sheer compactness of the songwriting also recalls Deerhunter at their most pop. Take a listen to Glaze via Soundcloud below.
Since the release of their first single Made-Up True Love in September 2013, Slaughter Beach have emerged as the lilting and romantic lo-fi heroes that the Danish indie scene had desperately craved since the moody likes of Lower and Iceage first broke. Their uniquely euphoric and psychedelic melange has already attracted praise from NPR, Interview Magazine, NME, The Line of Best Fit, and Pigeons and Planes since they released their debut EP ‘Love/Venice’ in the fall of 2015. Performing at Roskilde Festival and Øya Festival were also mega highlights of yesteryear.
The trio are currently staying in their studio in the slum of the Danish city of Odense, living day-to-day on more or less criminal (or questionable) activities, but it’s the unity they find in music that keeps them soldiering on. It’s not uncommon in the music business of 2016, that a band that plays festivals and receives a lot of attention from music magazines all over the world still aren’t able to make a living out of their music. But for the band members Hasse, Mads and Nikolaj, it’s all about creating music, and judging by the unassailable perfection of Glaze they’re really only just starting:
“We feel like this track embodies the spirit and vibe of our past, now and future as a band. There’s always been a tang of nostalgia in our music, but we’ve never been striving for just being great at emulating our heroes of some lost golden age of music. With Glaze, we feel as though we’ve made something that’s nostalgic and futuristic at the same time.”
Glaze has all the hallmarks of a breakout single. Its infectiousness is borderline epidemic and its naturalness and unpretentiousness are fact. It is the sound of a band transcending their squalid and anxious existence and communicating in a melodic plane above and beyond words. With songwriting like this, we should all rise up and join them.
