Having previously worked in acts such as Foam Castles and Golden Rules the Thumb, Portland, Maine’s Tyler Jackson has recently adopted the moniker Upper Narrows and is releasing debut album While We’re Warm on Repeating Cloud this autumn. With help from Tyler Quist (Moog, Juno, bass guitar, lead guitar), Jonas Eule (percussion, additional engineering) and Dana Guth (vocals), the record uses synths and programmed beats as the skeleton around which to craft its songs. The result is a sound patient, spacious and deceptively rich, which finds an evocative balance between the organic and digital.
First single ‘Tinker’s Darn’ offered “a deep and spacey sound that balances its digital soundscape with a very human emotion,” as we described in a preview, “resulting in something as immersive as it is affirming, even if the lyrics hold a more conflicted view.” Latest single ‘Square Flowers’ follows suit. With its pressing, pulsing beat, the track feels more expansive than the previous single, though retains the tenderness which made it stand out. Not least due to Jackson’s delivery, again providing that human core to what could otherwise be an almost extraterrestrial soundscape. His voice charges the track with a warmth so often lost in synth pop, and helps the album to live up to its name.
