Described by label Breakfast Records as “a vision unclouded,” Langkamer‘s latest full-length No feels like the clearest realisation of the project to date. The album was “recorded in the Spanish hills at Zarzalico and carries some of the Mediterranean clarity in its sound,” as we wrote in a preview back in October, “creating enough space to examine the full scale of our frenetic contemporary life.” Over a series of releases, Josh Jarman, Dan Anthony and co. have long embraced a certain sense of contradiction. They place easygoing rhythms and wry humour alongside unguarded, confessional emotion, blending stylistic conventions in the process. But No feels like a distillation of this endeavour. A record which flits between everything from post-punk to alt-country with a kind of frantic motion, evoking a contemporary moment where the only constant is struggle, and new challenges seems to assault us every day.
After lead single ‘Crows’, which we described as “a track fired by nervous energy and unanswered questions, barrelling forwards despite its clear desire to stop and change,” Langkamer have now returned with a pair of brand new singles to further introduce the tone of the the record. First is ‘Deansgate’, a brooding, reflective number interspersed with sparks of noise, as though beneath the morose surface of grey concrete and straight faces stirs something more fierce and chaotic. “’Deansgate’ is a song about Manchester,” Jarman explains, “being reminded of your past behaviour and trying to figure out whether or not you did the right thing. Heartbreak’s a motherfucker, but every battle has a winner. A pyrrhic victory is still a victory.”
Delivered with a wiry, decidedly more hurried energy, ‘Easterly’ could be viewed as this chaos uncorked, as though after a long period of tamping down anxiety, it rises and overcomes. “A while back I got locked out my flat on a particularly busy and stressful day,” Jarman continues. “My key broke off in the lock and in that instant something also broke in my brain. I was watching the pot boil over, I was totally helpless. This is a song about that exact instant.” But rather than consuming its host, the anxiety fires a song which proves strangely cathartic. As though something is gained in submitting to the vulnerability of the moment. Not quite freedom or relief, but a sense of release nonetheless.
No will be released in January via Breakfast Records and you can pre-order it now.
