Teeth of the Sea
BIOGRAPHY
It seems fate helped us discover London’s Teeth of the Sea here at Rockfeedback. Due to a completely incompetent piece of organisation, a film crew was sent to shoot a band-du-jour at 2008’s Concrete and Glass festival (the identity of whom has long since been forgotten), and instead ended up at the wrong venue, shooting this unknown, but brilliant, noise band.
As if to confirm this was more than just a coincidental discovery, the moment of inspiration that sparked Teeth of the Sea actually happened just down the road from Rockfeedback HQ, outside Angel tube station. After a booze and narcotics-fuelled Wolf Eyes gig a pact was formed to start a band to recreate the “euphoria and noise” of that night (although member Sam Bourne is keen to point out he was not involved, and was instead at home watching Sherlock Holmes on TV).
2009 saw the release of their impressive debut album Orphaned by the Ocean, successfully channelling their “euphoria and noise” mantra into some kind of coherent structure. Brilliantly-named opener ‘Only Fools on Horse’ sets the scene with buzzing bass and improvised trumpet lines, before merging into ‘Latin Inches’, which takes both the euphoria and the noise to the next level. At times the album shares a similar intensity to the soundscapes of last week’s artist of the week Brian Eno, with tense brooding periods punctuated by periods of release. This is best illustrated by album closer ‘Sentimental Journey’, which builds and builds until the album seemingly sinks into a swamp of distortion.
In a somewhat unexpected move, the band pulled off one of the strangest, and by extension, amazing, New Years Eve parties last year. They performed the entire soundtrack to Flash Gordon (originally performed by those noise-rock titans Queen), in full costume and against a backdrop of a projection of the original film. The band’s self-aware sense of humour creates a refreshing distance to many other bands of the same broad genre, where pomposity is often considered the norm, a great example being the band’s insistence that Sam’s night of Sherlock Holmes indulgence has influenced the sound of the band just as much as the other members’ debauched evening at that Wolf Eyes gig.
The band released the Hypnoticon EP in February this year, which pushed their sound on from their debut, and incorporated more of a space-rock element. The EP also includes a recorded version of ‘In The Space Capsule (Love Theme)’ from Flash Gordon, as if to take us even further into the depths of space.
Their second album Your Mercury comes out this week, and proves to be just what you’d expect as a follow up to their debut. Highlight ‘A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.’ sounds like Liars crossed with Jean Michel Jarre, in some kind of unholy attempt to create an all conquering noise rock beast. Krautrock influences are more evident on this album, which according to the band is down to members’ inability to play more than two notes in a song, and anything other than the simplest of drum beats, although I’m sure their aforementioned sense of humour accounts for that comment. It’s rare that the words “fun” and “post-rock” are seen within five miles of each other, but Teeth of the Sea’s inability to take themselves too seriously is in real danger of removing the restraining order.
Links
Tour Dates
22nd Nov – The Lexington, London
Videos
Teeth of the Sea Live @ Concrete and Glass 2008 – on Rockfeedback TV
Swear Blind the Alsation’s Melting
A.C.R.O.N.Y.M.