North Fall

Tie The Ends Tying Me

Written by: HES on 21/04/2016 17:11:26

North Fall is the musical brain child of singer/songwriter Anders Belling, starting as a thing only living in the realms of his own recordings, done in a one-room apartment in Copenhagen’s most fashionable, yet-to-be gentrified Nørrebro. Slowly the project moved out of the apartment and into the Danish underground with the release of “Outside It’s Growing Light” from 2014, as Belling was also invited to play in both Germany and Denmark. Inspite of the addition of a live band, the soundscape is unchanged: Lo-fi and melodious indie/slowcore with warm tones of acoustic guitar.

The project in many ways fall into a vein of Danish indie-folk also practiced by front-runners like The Attic Sleepers: It’s warm, it’s airy and it’s melancholic. Another common characteristic is the immense dedication to playing with recording techniques: Stereophonics, dubbing and synths. This is also characteristic of “Tie The Ends Tying Me”. What really makes the album successful is that in spite all of the playfulness, the soundscape still stays extremely wholesome and euphonious.

Another strategy that pays off is the stringent choice of songs, only nine in total, but with an emotional range from happiness to well-dosed sadness. Among the most catchy and recognizable songs are “March”, which bears a slight resemblance to Radical Face’s monster hit “Welcome Home, Son” in its combination of withheld vocals behind echoes, letting the light guitar strokes steal most of the presence of the verse. The rhythmic “To an Ice Age” is a more folk-ish rendition of the way Death Cab For Cutie utilizes the rhythm in otherwise low-key soundscape, creating a great atmospheric propulsion.

But unfortunately North Fall also battle one of the most common diseases of Nordic sounding indie-folk: That there are very many bands in the genre, all very talented, but often hard to distinguish between. The touches of synths on tracks like “Calligraphy” or perhaps the use of Belling’s vocals dubbed an octave lower makes momentary breakthroughs that could potentially help North Fall achieve a more distinct sound, positioning them in an already saturated market. “Tie The Ends Tying Me” is constantly balancing the known, safe and forgettable at the same time as trying to create something unique. What makes me come out in favor of the album overall is that it, in spite of this balancing, doesn't always coming falling out as I would like, it is still extremely well-produced and euphonious as hell.

7

Download: Calligraphy, Frosted,
For the fans of: Attic Sleepers, Radical Face, Iron & Wine
Listen: Facebook

Release date 15.04.2016
Soholme Records

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