Berlin, Germany based Dark Psychedelic Rock trio Voodoo Beach has announced their new album, “Wonderful Life,” set to release on December 1st, 2023 via Crazysane Records. Pre-order start: September 7th, 2023. Watch the official music video for the first single “Die Hand” through the YouTube player below:
The resolution of Voodoo Beach carries through in every vibration of their music and these tracks are a testament to their lasting creativity and collaboration. “Wonderful Life” is a bildungsroman of sorts about a band that was meant to meet its untimely demise, but lucky for us all Voodoo Beach are still at it with this amazing record.
Born from the wish to merge their wildly varying tastes in music, the members of Voodoo Beach have a long history of playing an eclectic brand of Dark Psychedelic Rock. Inspired by Sonic Youth, The Horrors and Slowdive, the Berliner underground act have been turning contradiction to creativity for almost 10 years, releasing a series of impressively balanced EPs before their lead singer and guitar player decided to quit. On the brink of dissolution the band were saved by Heike Rädeker, founding member of German cult Noise Rockers 18th Dye, who was a fan of the band and who instantly decided to join them on hearing of their upcoming demise.
Returning from the edge of the abyss, Voodoo Beach brim with an unmistakable lust for life on the nine tracks that comprise their debut full-length. The moody bombastic album opener “Fremde Fenster” is overflowing with droning oriental guitar leads and fuzzy bass tones which slowly entrance you as the voice of Heike provides familiar touches of the Neue Deutsche Welle sound of the 80s. In the context of this band, Heike really shines like never before and the combination of her off-the-cuff guitar playing and the gritty combo of John-Hendrik Karsten’s Fuzzy bass and Josephine Oleak’s singular drumming makes for a wildly charming stage.
The incredible stormy vocal performance on “Nein” or the stanky delivery on “Die Hand” show a singer who is comfortable in her material and with her members, even though most of the lyrics were written by bassist John. “The symbiosis of music and words comes natural at Voodoo Beach,” explains the band about their writing process. “The smell of a song leads to a thought, which can be about life in general, everyday happenings, not happenings, oddities, stupidities and weltschmerz in all directions.”
In the same way, the music of Voodoo Beach expands in all directions across the album. Already from the first tones of “Fremde Fenster” the atmospheric ambition of the trio becomes clear as they engulf you in warm soundscapes hearkening to the midwest-emo leanings of Explosions In The Sky and American Football. Carried through in the title track, the sonic depth of “Wonderful Life” is strangely expansive but also quite low-key.
“Meine Seele” for example merges influences of Post-Punk and Psychedelic Rock in such an artful way that you can really get lost in the noisy overlap of tones as the track progresses. In the same way, the field-recording of “23” feels neither pretentious in its content nor meaningless in its simplicity, serving as an apt demonstration of the wonderful life chorus of the subsequent title track, as well as a strong counterpoint to the overwhelming wall-of-sound chorus of the preceding “Immer Noch.”
Being two years in the making, “Wonderful Life” is a natural extension of the group’s signature blend of Indie Rock, Jangle Pop and Neo-Psychedelia, while the extended time of writing and recording allowed the band to add an inspiring degree of depth to their sound. They say the devil is in the details, but voodoo is in the constant war drums that resonate in the night sky. The resolution of Voodoo Beach carries through in every vibration of their music and these tracks are a testament to their lasting creativity and collaboration. “Wonderful Life” is a bildungsroman of sorts about a band that was meant to meet its untimely demise, but lucky for us all Voodoo Beach are still at it with this amazing record.
Pre-Order vinyl and Pre-Save here: orcd.co/vb-wonderful-life-album
Tracklist:
01. Fremde Fenster
02. Nein
03. Die Hand
04. Meine Freunde
05. Immer Noch
06. 23
07. Wonderful Life (feat. John Moods)
08. Meine Seele (feat. Hendrik Otremba)
09. Euphorie
