Spielbergs are an indie rock trio from Oslo consisting of Mads Baklien (guitar/vocals/synth), Stian Brennskag (bass) and Christian Løvhaug (drums). Last year saw the release of their debut EP Distant Star, winning the band impressive acclaim and establishing their distinctive marriage of garage rock and dream pop, highlighting a knack for creating invigorating anthems that brought to mind the ‘celebration rock’ of Japandroids and Beach Slang.
Less than twelve months later the band are back with the debut full-length, This Is Not The End. Capitalising on the momentum of the EP, the record seizes the exhilarating style and runs with it, doubling down on the racing energy and boisterous joy. The decision seems notable in the current landscape of indie rock—there’s no country rock twang, no 80s synths or Joy Division LARPing, no slow drift toward the techniques of R&B—and the result is a sense of earnestness that emerges from every song.
This earnestness is the trademark of the Spielbergs. Take opener ‘Five on It’ as an example, bursting into life with its raucous guitars, eschewing all window dressing in favour of cathartic energy. The result is a headlong rush, hopeful in the way that decisive moment always is, as though nothing heavy or dark can settle so long as one keeps moving.
That many of the tracks follow this general mood from there on in is a testament to the Spielbergs self-assurance and conviction. ‘Distant Star’ is a hyperactive promise born of the itch to seize the moment. ‘Not For Long’ channels No Age with its clattering storm of noise. ‘Bad Friend’ plays like a pop punk hit with the guitars and drums multiplied exponentially. All deliver the purgative force of high speeds, presenting adrenaline kicks and giddy joy as a salve for whatever woes linger.
However, dig deeper into the record and a hidden diversity is there to be found. The reserved sadness of ‘Sleeper’ shows that the dial need not always set to 100, and the slow-burn brooding of ‘Familiar’ highlights a more patient use of noise. However, in true Spielbergs fashion, the song never loses its sparks of hope, and soon these coalesce into an affirming blaze of light.
Other songs are more divergent still, ‘S.K.’ serving as a sparkling ambient interlude while the mammoth ‘McDonalds (Please Don’t Fuck Up My Order)’ goes a step further, a vast, spacious track that pushes toward post-rock before disintegrating into a tangle of noise, the first and only real departure from the optimism that creeps through the rest of the release.
Still, it’s not long before things are in the ascendancy one more. ‘4AM’ “forgoes none of the emotional intensity,” we wrote in a preview, “turning what could be a fun but superficial track into something far deeper and more rewarding.” What ‘Forevermore loses in sheer dynamism is made up for in emotional intensity, the track breaking into great, soaring crescendos. Both songs plough some of the same ground as Japandroids’ ‘Younger Us’, and in doing so capture the Spielbergs style once and for all. Looking backwards while bursting forward, like nostalgia dressed in racing stripes and set loose, sad but still running until its lungs burn from its chest.
This Is Not The End is out via By The Time It Gets Dark on the 1st February.