SPILL NEW MUSIC: AMBER ARCADES DEBUTS VIDEO FOR “TURNING LIGHT”

AMBER ARCADES DEBUTS VIDEO FOR “TURNING LIGHT”

Heavenly Recordings

Following the release of standout tracks “Turning Light” and “Right Now”, Amber Arcades — the moniker of Dutch musician Annelotte de Graaf — is thrilled to share the self-titled track from her upcoming debut album, Fading Lines (out June 3rd on Heavenly Recordings) via Loud and Quiet. The track is a rousing mix of dreamy guitars and de Graaf’s feather-light vocals, propelling the listener through her addictive and delirious reverie.

Recorded at Strange Weather Studio in New York with producer Ben Greenberg (The Men, Beach Fossils, Destruction Unit), Fading Lines was inspired by time, continuity, coincidence and magic. Other inspirations include early-morning jetlag (‘Turning Light’) and an artist’s plans for a utopian city (‘Constant’s Dream’). Although this sounds dreamy in nature (and these songs do posses a seamless, ethereal quality), De Graaf’s dreams are not necessarily rooted in whimsy. In fact they have led to her working as a legal aide on UN war crime tribunals (she currently works in human rights law people who had fled Syria), to inviting strangers to share her Utrecht squat (which led to a friendship and later to her signing to Heavenly), and to spending her life savings on a flight to New York because that’s where she wanted to record her first album.

After researching producers and deciding to work with Greenberg (“the odd one out as he’d produced all this hardcore punk shit”), Annelotte was joined by Shane Butler and Keven Lareau of Quilt on guitar and bass, Jackson Pollis of Real Estate on drums, plus Meg Duffy on slide guitar on the eerie, clip-clopping “Apophenia”. They listened to “a lot of Suicide, Broadcast, Stereolab, Yo La Tengo, The Gun Club…” and worked on the songs that Annelotte had written at home in Utrecht.

“In New York everything came together beautifully,” says De Graaf. “The whole team, the producer and the band. It was a magical time – writing an album had been an abstract thing in my mind and recording it in New York had been a wild, surreal plan. It never really occurred to me that it would happen until I sat on the plane. I had this money in my savings account and I thought, I’m going to make an album.”

Right from woozy, soaring opener “Come With Me”, the album invites endless interpretations – or simply emotional and physical reactions of joy, loss, acceptance and “the billions of different views there are to this life and whatever we’re doing here”. The result is a dazzling and immersive collection of songs, proving Amber Arcades as an assured and exceptional new talent.

Amber Arcades’ recording band is as follows: Shane Butler (Quilt) on guitar, Keven Lareau (Quilt) on bass, and Jackson Pollis (Real Estate) on drums.

Amber Arcades
Fading Lines
(Heavenly Recordings)
Release Date: June 3, 2016

Pre-Order via

Fading Lines Track List

1. Come With Me
2. Constant’s Dream
3. Fading Lines
4. I Will Follow
5. Perpetuum Mobile
6. Right Now
7. Apophenia
8. This Time
9. Turning Light
10. White Fuzz

Amber Arcades US Tour Dates

9/14/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Shea Stadium
9/16/16 – Providence, RI @ The Met*
9/17/16 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
9/20/16 – Portsmouth, NH @ Artspace*
9/22/16 – Columbus, OH @ A&R Bar*
9/23/16 – Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom & Tavern*
9/24/16 – Detroit, MI @ Loving Touch*
9/26/16 – St. Louis, MO @ Old Rock House*
9/29/16 – Nashville, TN @ Mercy Lounge*
9/30/16 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West*
10/1/16 – Birmingham, AL @ Saturn*
10/3/16 – Carboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle*
10/4/16 – Asheville, NC @ Grey Eagle*
10/6/16 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Southern*
10/7/16 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Club Café*
10/8/16 – Baltimore, MD @ Ottobar*

*w/ Nada Surf

Artist Links

(Photo Credit: Nick Helderman)