HEARTS NO STATIC

HEARTS NO STATIC is a trio based in Stockholm. After only a few sessions of improvisation John Roger Olsson, Jens Pettersson, and Otto Johansson started recording their debut album "Motif" at their own studio in January 2009.

The album is notably consistent – a sign of the musical harmony between the members of the band, from the opening track, the slow and effect pedal drenched "Lowlands", to the massive distorted title track "Motif". Equal parts of ambient, kraut and drone shapes the sound, and the broad variety continues throughout the record.

Because all three musicians are members of other bands as well, they consider HEARTS NO STATIC to be their creative workshop for all of the ideas not appropriate for their other projects.

HEARTS NO STATIC make no secret of the fact that they are or have been influenced by other bands. But the trio has created, let's say, their own Swedish way of painting with sound that belongs to the first decade of the new millennium. You can't call their music cheerful. There are pictures of deep forests, dark seas, and stirring coastal scenery forming in the mind's eye – and perhaps pictures of a small recording studio on the outskirts of Stockholm. Then there are those recurring outbursts, the energetic but sagging drums, and the wall of sound that shakes you up. And then there is the silence, which is shortly followed by no silence at all. A "motorik" rhythm, that pushes you forward. But no matter how calm, loud, sluggish or propelling their music is: There is a special, majestic melancholy that lies within. It's profound. It's simply brilliant!

HEARTS NO STATIC rely on analogue equipment. Besides various guitars (and a lot of effect pedals), bass and drums, they use vibraphone, reed organ, Fender Rhodes, piano, and trumpet, etc. This sound is plaintive and complex, but it's never crowded. HEARTS NO STATIC prefer the elementary.

Here's the sound of HEARTS NO STATIC: Lowlands / HoveringPt.1 / Fashion Death / Motif / Wastelands

FREE MP3

Hearts No Static's free download track LOWLANDS begins calmly but gets heavy after two minutes. A truly impressive dark soundscape! Download here and enjoy.

REVIEWS

"One of the brightest new hopes in post-rock" (RockARolla)

"MOTIF is the sound of three artists in perfect creative harmony. This album will blow you away." (It's A Trap)

"Walking the borderlands between post-rock and ambient/drone, Hearts No Static cherry pick the best attributes from both genres while wisely avoiding their pitfalls. (...) The album surrounds and envelops the listener like a blanket, providing shelter and comfort while never making its presence overly obvious." (MadeLoud)

"Die Musik lässt Bilder entstehen, die ein Panoramaformat erfordern. Kopfhörermusik für Leute, die ins Detail hören können (Krautrocksozialisierte sind da klar im Vorteil), Bohren und dem Club of Gore etwas abgewinnen können und wissen: Ambient geht auch ohne Strom." (Stylemag)

"Musikalisches Breitwandkino. MOTIF lässt einen locker ohne bewusstseinserweiternde Mittelchen schweben." (Fünf von sechs Sternen) (Neue Szene Augsburg)

"Musik von Menschen, die mit der Dunkelheit des nordischen Winters und der Weite der Landschaft leben." (LZ Lüneburg)

"Hearts No Static treten dem Übersättigten Post-Rock-Genre nachhaltig mit neuen Impulsen und einem überlegten Songwriting entgegen. (...) MOTIF ist ein schlüssiges Gesamtwerk, für das man noch lange auf der Suche nach der wirklichen Essenz sein wird. Die Schweden von Hearts No Static haben sie definitiv schon gefunden." (CDStarts)

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