Berlin/NY Quartet Fenster Return with Sophomore Album The Pink Caves out March 4th on Morr Music
Berlin/NY quartet Fenster have announced the release of their second record, The Pink Caves, out March 4th on Morr Music. The album follows their debut, Bones, which received critical acclaim from the likes of KEXP, NPR, The New Yorker, MTV, NYLON, Refinery29, BrooklynVegan, Team Coco, and more, often gaining favorable comparisons to The Velvet Underground, Broadcast or The xx. The band will return to the states for a US tour and album release show in NYC, as well as performances at this year’s SXSW.
Work began on The Pink Caves in early 2013. A home studio was set up in a cabin in East Germany and the whole house was wired so every room contained different elements, set up in such a way that they were able to record live altogether. As a result The Pink Caves radiates with an intuitive and spontaneous approach to noise experimentation. The band reputedly used the house they recorded in as an instrument in itself, using slamming doors, clanging the metal oven, the ticking of clocks, the animals in the yard, the water in the well, candlesticks, coat hangers and matches…whatever happened to be within reach. All of this was captured by producer Tadklimp, whose idiosyncratic and inimitable production skills unravel the complexities and textures of the album.
With its subtle and surreal lyrics, The Pink Caves often feels like it is conversing with an imaginary spectre, at times longing for the purity of nature, and occasionally lamenting the futility of it all. Themes of dystopian love, attachment, estrangement and alienation permeate, describing invisible things to a backdrop of a subterranean dreamworld where bad dreams are ultimately rendered ‘good’ in the grand scheme of things. With this record, Fenster ventures into new spaces, exploring different techniques, instrumentation and song structures. The album’s title and aesthetic derive from the concept of a make-belief heaven, a place you go when you die that only exists in your mind. Welcome to The Pink Caves!
“Fenster nails the male-female vocals and sparse, lo-fi sound.” - NPR
“Their sparse and wistful songs are peppered with the unexpected.” ~ The New Yorker
“Fenster is the biggest and best indie …band you haven’t yet heard of…” ~ VMAN ‘Artist You Need To Know’
Listen to first track “Mirrors” at ThisIsFakeDIY or YouTube
Fenster is: Jonathan Jarzyna, JJ Weihl, Rémi Letournelle, Lucas Chantre/
Production: recorded and mixed by Tadklimp
Tracklisting
01 Better Days
02 Sunday Owls
03 In the Walls
04 Cat Emperor
05 True Love
06 The Light
07 Mirrors
08 Fireflies
09 On Repeat
10 Hit & Run
11 1982
12 Creatures