We’re pleased to bring you the premiere of Curling’s music video for their song “Radio King” (watch it below). The track is taken from the band’s forthcoming album Definitely Band, which is scheduled to be released on August 3, 2018 through Copper Mouth Records (cassette) and Making New Enemies (vinyl).
The band comment on the video:
There are about 50 guitars and a couple of basses that make an appearance in this music video. The idea for the video originated when we were in the studio tracking ‘Radio King.’ After we knocked out the basic live track (2 guitars and drums), we started layering in guitar overdubs: everything from Rickenbacker 12-strings run directly into the mixing board to offset guitars with tremolos through reverse reverb. At one point, we had at least 5 or 6 guitars laying around the studio control room.
We’ve always been a ‘guitar band,’ we love guitars and gear. We wanted to highlight the tonal intricacies and amount of glittery guitar ornamentation on this track, so we figured we might as well borrow a boatload of instruments (thanks Austin Vintage Guitars!) and show off our favorites! After that, we added some karaoke-style lyrics (complete with bouncing ball and Japanese phonetic pronunciation for our friends overseas) and some animations courtesy of our album artist Chou Yi.
About the band:
Curling is a self-styled ‘commuter band.’ Jojo Brandel and Bernie Gelman originally met while they were both part of the vibrant Bay Area music scene. The two guitarists/singers share a love for swirling shoegaze haze, great pop songwriting (particularly the Beatles!), and the guitar pyrotechnics of bands like Television and American Football.
Not long after they started playing music together, Bernie moved to Austin, Texas and Jojo moved to Tokyo, Japan. They continued correspondence via email and, over the course of several months of demo exchanging, came up with the framework for their 2016 self-titled release. Jojo and Bernie each flew back to Oakland to rehearse and record the album. The entire album was recorded to 2″ tape in a matter of days. Many of the songs on the album had only been rehearsed a handful of times by the band!
After the DIY release of their 2016 album and a small tour to support the record, Jojo and Bernie each returned to their respective homes far away from California. Over the course of the next 2 years, they flew back to Oakland every 4 to 6 months to write (no more demo exchanging, these songs were mostly written sitting in a room together!), rehearse, and record a handful of new songs, slowly whittling away at what would eventually become 2018’s Definitely Band. Bernie brought a bit of Texas twang back to these recording sessions, while Jojo took his experiences in Japan and brought a unique perspective to the songs (including writing/singing in Japanese on “Four”).
Definitely Band is the culmination of years of hard work and perseverance through extenuating circumstances. The album is a melting pot of everything Jojo and Bernie love: Beatlesque harmonies, shoegazey warble, chiming and gnashing guitars, and a focus on great songwriting. Despite the powerpop vibe and bright, melodic guitar playing, the lyrics of album cover a wide-range of heavy topics from self-loathing (“Pleasure”) and coping with death (“Mallow”) to indecision (“Radio King”) and regret (“Home”).
Curling took a different approach with every track on the album, experimenting with studio tricks, tape manipulation, and bringing in lots of outside musicians to create new sounds and push the music into fresh sonic territory.
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