Are 3 minutes of uptempo post-punk enough to get us back on track for the 1st week of Autumn? Well, if it’s from the German band XTR HUMAN, and their very special, -nearly anthemic-, tune, ‘Courage‘, then the answer is definitely positive.
‘Courage‘ is an unmissable dark opus for 2018, and a very promising hymn for the upcoming album ‘Reflections‘, out on September 7th, via the always reliable Blackjack Illumnist Records. Creatures of the night, this one is a killer tune, with some of the most notable basslines of this year.
Here, at Last Day Deaf, we feel more than excited for this exclusive, and hopefully the same will apply for you. “New musick” below!
Press Release:
Reflecting one’s past in order to breathe new life into the present and the future. German post-punks XTR HUMAN have spent a lot of time on the road touring across Europe, having the time of their lives, only to realise that writing new songs came up short. Bandleader Johannes Stabel hit the brakes and finally took the necessary time-out — “Reflections” is the impressive result, and it’s XTR HUMAN most atmospheric work to date.
Take “Disturbia”, for example: While the track title suggests claustrophobic, grainy post-punk, the song starts with a crisp snare attack, a vivid bass line and translucent, yet twangy guitars. It feels like breathing fresh air – at the very latest when the chorus sends the whole thing skywards, turning it into the band’s most optimistic sounding moment. On this EP shoegaze has taken over, and it’s the exciting kind that sounds driving and atmospheric, bright, but with a slight note of peril. Having Lemmy Fischer from JAGUWAR on board for mixing and additional guitars/vocals certainly was an overall smart move that gave extra confidence.
While “True Lies” and “Courage” offer gritty uptempo postpunk, it’s “Limelight” and the 7-minute title track, “Reflections” that push XTR HUMAN into new territories. Stabel’s melancholic vocals push their way through dense layers of sound and move to the foreground, providing the songs with depth and giving the shivers.
Pausing and reflecting turned out to be the right decision. This EP is XTR HUMAN on the way to something big.
