21-01-2022
“Tonight we want you here…”

Quarantined isolation in a world where science is questioned and anonymous conspiracies provide an alternative truth which is attracting more believers by the day. The Covid era saw the rise of these new truth bubbles. Each containing its own reality thanks to reenforcing algorithmic narratives, providing those trapped within “more of what we already have”. Luckily the Angels Are Near.

Available for streaming around the globe: the very first single of the electronic formation Angels Are Near. Featuring 3 tracks: the heavily 90s influenced synth rock fusion Angels Are Near, the up-tempo and dense darkwave Crave Sa-Fora and a synth heavy interpretation of The Man Who Sold The World.

Angels Are Near is headed by Dutch multi-instrumentalist and singer Van Spall and features additional contributions by Fimke Duursma on bass, Casual T on drums and Rebelinda on vocals. The recordings are mixed and mastered by Rob Peters and are available thru’ Distrokid on Apple music, Spotify, Amazon, Deezer and YouTube.

ANGELS ARE NEAR (VANSPALL)
The title track Angels Are Near was written in the midst of a Covid-lockdown. “Algorithmic pillarization had been an ongoing, but quite unnoticeable, process. Thanks to the pandemic those hidden bubbles suddenly surfaced very vocally, at least in the Netherlands”, says Van Spall. “The ideologic narratives in some of those bubbles are quite disturbing; full of conspiracies and hearsay. How is it that some people relate more to those new truth narratives than factual scientific narratives? Fascinating material. I guess the track became a song about algorithmic seduction.”

Interesting trivia is that all melodic sounds are produced by guitar synths: “They are highly unpopular amongst guitarists, but I always love the quirky sounds they produce. They add a very unique voice.” Van Spall continues: “There’s a bit after the distorted harmonics guitar solo where I use a sound in the SY-1000 to give the bubble algorithm a voice and actually make it ‘talk’. You can’t create sounds like that with analogue pedals.” 

THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD (BOWIE)
Where the original version and its iconic cover features a very classic rock setup, this version breaks with all those traditional sounds. Replacing rhythm guitars with synths and the drum groove with a triphop beat. Van Spall: “In the mid-90s top synth session musician Peter Schwartz did an amazing rearrangement of the song. It could have been a completely new song. The only thing tying it to the original is that instantly recognizable guitar figure used in the synth and guitar solo. We follow his version very closely.”

CRAVE SA-FORA (VANSPALL)
Featuring some unworldly synths, heavily treated vocals, razor-sharp guitars and a pulsing beat Crave-Sa-Fora feels like a love letter to the alternative 90s electronica based rock scene. But its subject matter is rooted in the now. “It’s a very Covid-19 era song”, tells Van Spall. “Being isolated in lockdown can really fuck you up. I’ve seen people around me slipping into more and more extreme behavior in order to escape their boredom of staying home all the time. Some people that normally never do drugs would suddenly try out XTC and I’ve seen others deep dive into their kink swiping for new flesh every week. I guess the extreme circumstances of a lockdown are reflected in the way we like to connect.”

Crave Sa-Fora was the first track to be completed for the project: “The gist of the song was written on the acoustic guitar. I usually tend to start with a groove and build from there, but sometimes I do  the traditional thing and start with a guitar”. Van Spall continues: “When I had the song on tape I felt like this could be interesting musical territory to explore some more. All I needed was to find the right people for additional flavor. Luckily thanks to the my own algorithmic bubble like-minded souls are always near…”

Personnel

Brandon van Spall: Guitars, synths, sequencers, drumcomputer and vocals
Casual T: Additional percussion and drums
Fimke Duursema: Additional bass
Rebelinda: Additional vocals
Rob Peters: Additional production, mixing and mastering

Picture by Esmee van Laer