New wave Americana. Melodic, guitar-based songs in the style of late 70's, early 80's postpunk and alternative.

12 MP3 Songs in this album (40:57) !
Related styles: ROCK: Modern Rock, POP: New Wave

People who are interested in Siouxsie and The Banshees Wall of Voodoo Big Country should consider this download.


Details:
Atlantica Vox is the solo project of Kyle Fiske, a recording artist based in Rockport, Massachusetts.

The music has been described as "New Wave Americana"; it's in the vein of late '70's, early '80s postpunk and new wave music. Influences include Echo and the Bunnymen, The Cure, The Smiths, U2, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wall of Voodoo/Stan Ridgway, The Police, Big Country, X, The Jam, Bob Dylan, The Clash, Joy Division/New Order, The Alarm, Bruce Springsteen and Simple Minds, among others.

Various other sources of inspiration are Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone, The Outer Limits, Edgar Allen Poe, C.S. Lewis, John Ford, the Shaw Brothers and Hammer Films.

These tight, catchy new wave inspired songs play out as film-noir stories, off-kilter tales of love and loss, and slice-of-life dramas unfolding under the backdrop of a once-upon-a-time American landscape.


About "The Phantom Town Demos"

"The Phantom Town Demos" is a collection of 12 songs that I wrote between 2005 and 2007. I think it's clear that my influences largely consist of the bands I mentioned, but I don't think I sound too much like any one of them in particular. I've been writing songs in general for about 15 years, and over that time I think I've gotten a pretty clear vision of what I want to do artistically, both musically and lyrically.

I remember seeing an interview once with Joe Strummer of the Clash, and he talked about listening to all this music from the Amercian south, and how that world was so far away from his surroundings in London---so he just wrote about what he saw around him, and tried to add some mystery and glamour to what HE knew. I think that's pretty good advice for any songwriter, and I try to keep that in mind when I write. Also, when writing lyrics, I'm fond of mixing sincere, heartfelt autobiographical elements with complete fictional characters and settings---to the point where it's hard (even for me) to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. I think that tends to create a nice mix of sincerity and mystery.

I decided to refer to this recording as a "demo" because I'm doing all this by myself, in a small room, on a shoestring budget, and I can't really compete with the sound of a multi-million dollar studio, but I think the recording does let the songs come through well enough. Writing, playing and recording are perpetual learning processes, too, so everything that I learned while doing this one will hopefully allow my next recording to be that much better sounding.

Overall, given that it was my first serious attempt, I was quite happy with the way this CD came out. "All Turned Upside Down", "A Certain Something", and "Phantom Town" are strong songs, and capture the vibe I was going for. There's a bit of a film influence to some of these tracks, as I had a Hitchcock-type story of a lovestruck reporter and a beautiful international spy in "All Turned Upside Down", I vaguely had the film "Bad Day at Black Rock' going through my mind when I wrote "Phantom Town",and "Haunting" was somewhat inspired by the Roger Corman-directed film of the Poe story "The Fall of the House of Usher".

Living very close to the ocean, it's hard not to be inspired by the seascape as it changes throughout the year, and "Early Morning, Winter Harbor" is a nice, slightly ethereal instrumental along those lines. I veered a bit towards dark rockabilly with "In Your Shadow", and "Your Brighter Day" ends the CD with a bittersweet tale of a young couple seeking a new beginning out west---the classic American story.

I've got a LOT of songs on the backburner, so stay tuned if you're interested in where I'm going. But until then, you can get an early idea with the songs here on "The Phantom Town Demos".

Thanks for listening,

K