Album streaming on The Onion's AV Club
MP3 (Cleared to post): Halloween, Alaska - "Empire Waist"
"quite danceable, but not overtly beat-driven. It’s interesting to note how timeless this kind of pop music actually is when it’s done right. Other than some obvious changes in computer-based technology, some of this record sounds like it could be from another time, another place, circa 1988-92....it’s pretty damn good." - Anthony Happel, Impose Magazine
The latest album from Minneapolis-based Halloween, Alaska is a lean and instantly engaging testament to the group's evolution from a studio-born purveyor of lush ambient pop to a full-bodied rock band with equal tastes for winsome melody, warm atmospheric flourish, heady lyricism and freewheeling sonic detours.
The CD & LP of All Night the Calls Came In will release September 20th, via Amble Down Records. The band will celebrate with a special album release show in its hometown of Minneapolis on September 10th at First Avenue. Later this fall, the band will embark on its first proper UK tour with Domino recording artist and recent Mercury Prize nominee Anna Calvi.
Halloween, Alaska Fall Dates
09.08 • State Theater Backstage (Eau Claire, WI)
09.10 • First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN)
10.30 • Concorde 2 (Brighton, UK)*
10.31 • Trinity (Bristol, UK)*
11.01 • Shepherds Bush Empire (London, UK)*
11.04 • Library at HMV Institute (Birmingham, UK)*
11.05 • Rescue Rooms (Nottingham, UK)*
11.14 • Manchester Cathedral (Manchester, UK)*
11.15 • Oran Mor (Glasgow, UK)*
11.16 • The Cockpit (Leeds, UK)*
11.19 • Vicar Street (Dublin, IRE)*
11.20 • The Empire (Belfast, IRE)*
*with Anna Calvi.
10.30 • Concorde 2 (Brighton, UK)*
10.31 • Trinity (Bristol, UK)*
11.01 • Shepherds Bush Empire (London, UK)*
11.04 • Library at HMV Institute (Birmingham, UK)*
11.05 • Rescue Rooms (Nottingham, UK)*
11.14 • Manchester Cathedral (Manchester, UK)*
11.15 • Oran Mor (Glasgow, UK)*
11.16 • The Cockpit (Leeds, UK)*
11.19 • Vicar Street (Dublin, IRE)*
11.20 • The Empire (Belfast, IRE)*
*with Anna Calvi.
In a deliberate departure from the slower, more methodical process behind previous albums, the bulk of All Night the Calls Came In was recorded live in a single room during a single week with all four members playing together — its toasty synths and spare electronic drum pads all struck with human hands, never programmed. Recording took place at The Terrarium in Minneapolis in late 2010, engineered and mixed by scene veteran Jason Orris. While its core moods and melodicism will ring familiar to fans of the band's previous albums, this new one also documents the groupʼs most direct and stripped-down work to date.
Following the release of the album's single, "Empire Waist," Halloween, Alaska premiered a video for the standout track atPaste Magazine. Watch the video below:
MP3 (Cleared to post): Halloween, Alaska - "Empire Waist"
MP3 (Clearted to post): Halloween, Alaska - "Dance By Accident" (via My Old Kentucky Blog)
All Night the Calls Came In also marks the solidification of a new lineup following an extended period of tension and transition. Singer/keyboardist James Diers, guitarist Jacob Hanson and drummer David King (also known for his intrepid work in jazz trio The Bad Plus) are joined by newly recruited bassist William Shaw, a fellow alum of Minneapolis cult favorite 12 Rods.
Halloween, Alaska broke into the indie consciousness in 2004 with an auspicious self-titled set of electronically laced art-pop. Initially hatched by Diers and King as a low-key, studio-based diversion from other projects, the group soon took on a life of its own, spreading by way of internet raves and unlikely T.V. placements to amass a sizable cult following. After 2005'sToo Tall to Hide, the band's moody palette began to expand as original keyboardist/engineer Ev Olcott resigned his post and Hanson began to introduce weightier guitar work into the mix. The change was evident in the restless sprawl of 2009'sChampagne Downtown, and when the group subsequently parted ways with original bassist Matt Friesen, the addition of Shaw set the stage for a more radical restart.
All Night the Calls Came In is both a continuation and a rethinking of Halloween, Alaska's tuneful aesthetic. Packed with forthright pop hooks and nervy idiosyncrasies, its 10 songs offer an earnest and compelling capsule of the band's self-imposed reboot.
All Night the Calls Came In is both a continuation and a rethinking of Halloween, Alaska's tuneful aesthetic. Packed with forthright pop hooks and nervy idiosyncrasies, its 10 songs offer an earnest and compelling capsule of the band's self-imposed reboot.
What people have said about Halloween, Alaska:
"You won't find Halloween, Alaska, anywhere on a map. Instead, this Minnesota band inhabits a sensual, weightless world of sweetly brooding electronic pop" - Michael L. Walsh, Spin
"...like [TV On The Radio], this Midwestern quartet lays out moody guitar and keyboards bric-a-brac atop subtly quaking beats...There's understated elegance all over their third record—soft, glassy drones, worried groove glitch, a sly come-on cribbed from an old Prince song." —Blender
"The band brings all of its dramatic spaces and signatures to life with an electronic and slo-core behavior that lets the expressions feel as if they were traumatic masterpieces that we were actually very lucky to have had a chance to be exposed to before the lights went out for good." —Daytrotter
"[FOUR STARS]...HALLOWEEN, ALASKA's emotive verve and electro-organic poise is so accomplished, you'd think you'd got your hands on The Blue Nile's mislaid comeback album." —MOJO
"A lot of bands claim not to fit any preexisting pop music genre, but few can back up such claims as convincingly as Minneapolis-based HALLOWEEN, ALASKA...jittery-jungly and swooningly melodic...sonically large and weirdly cathartic...Highly recommended." —All Music Guide
"The band brings all of its dramatic spaces and signatures to life with an electronic and slo-core behavior that lets the expressions feel as if they were traumatic masterpieces that we were actually very lucky to have had a chance to be exposed to before the lights went out for good." —Daytrotter
"[FOUR STARS]...HALLOWEEN, ALASKA's emotive verve and electro-organic poise is so accomplished, you'd think you'd got your hands on The Blue Nile's mislaid comeback album." —MOJO
"A lot of bands claim not to fit any preexisting pop music genre, but few can back up such claims as convincingly as Minneapolis-based HALLOWEEN, ALASKA...jittery-jungly and swooningly melodic...sonically large and weirdly cathartic...Highly recommended." —All Music Guide
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