Videos

Asobi Seksu – Trails

• 17th Feb 2011

Brooklyn dream poppers Asobi Seksu have announced further UK live dates, this time confirming some headline shows in April. Including London’s XOYO on the 19th April, the new shows follow on from the previously announced tour supporting Austin rockers And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead and Rival Schools.

Here are the new run of UK dates in full:
Fri 15-Apr London Electric Ballroom
Sat 16-Apr Manchester Academy 2
Sun 17-Apr Glasgow Garage
Mon 18-Apr Birmingham O2 Academy 2
Tues 19-Apri London XOYO – headline show – get tickets
Thu 21 Apr UK Brighton Audio – headline show – get tickets

Asobi Seksu will also be appearing at SXSW 2011.

The band have also just released the beautifully atmospheric video for lead track ‘Trails’, watch this here: link

The tour will be the UK’s first opportunity to hear Asobi Seksu’s new album ‘Fluorescence’ played live. ‘Fluorescence' is out this week through Polyvinyl in the UK/EU and today in the USA. Their fourth album is available on CD, LP – a Gatefold Jacket limited edition 180 gram pink vinyl no less – and digital formats. The album also features artwork from acclaimed designer Vaughan Oliver (Cocteau Twins, Pixies).

The signs in Chris Zane’s studio couldn’t have been any clearer: “Don’t Overthink It” and one simple word—“BOLD.”

Or as Asobi Seksu guitarist/singer James Hanna puts it, “This time, our agenda was to not have one at all; to be mellow about the entire process instead of obsessing over everything.”

Maybe mellow isn’t the right word, unless he’s comparing the band’s fourth proper full-length (‘Fluorescence’) to a coiled-up cobra or unconscious crocodile— temperamental types that are one false move away from striking. After all, ‘Coming Up’ sets the scene by plowing into beehive-like synth lines and warp speed washes of dream-pop that leave you wondering just what the hell is going on.

Things don’t let up on ‘Trails’ either, as singer/keyboardist Yuki Chikudate sets her immaculate melodies against a barrage of battery-powered chords. Catchy and chaotic to the core, the sky-scraping song pays homage to the pitch-perfect songwriting of the ‘60s by chartering a yellow submarine to the moon.

And when the Brooklyn-based quartet (rounded out by bassist Billy Pavone and drummer Larry Gorman) finally hits the ground, their color-saturated soundscapes don’t get dull or cold. They get even brighter, as Fluorescence’s many shades shift with each passing song. That includes everything from the expansive/erratic—and yet, oh-so- poppy—prog movements of 'Leave the Drummer Out There' to the weightless balladry of 'Ocean', a track that channels its title with swollen synths and beats that bob and weave through the murkiest waters around.

“James likes to get a lot more abstract with the music,” says Chikudate, “So Chris (Asobi Seksu’s longtime producer) will often try and reign him in.”

“I like to see how far we can take a song before pulling back a bit,” explains Hanna. “Like I’ll say that 100 vocal tracks would sound great in a spot where we only need 40.”

And since Asobi Seksu have spent the past decade refining their bombastic but beautiful blend of hailstorm hooks and fog-shrouded 4AD-isms (including last year’s special acoustic album, ‘Rewolf’), they knew exactly what to do with all of that restlessness: embrace it.