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| SHOCKING PINKS SELF-TITLED ALBUM SET FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 25
Flying Nun / DFA is proud to announce the addition of New Zealand based artist Shocking Pinks to their diverse roster of talent. The self-titled album will be released on September 25. In a country where the human population is outnumbered by sheep, isolation is certainly relative, but it has played a key role in Nick Harte's band Shocking Pinks. Harte grew up in the "Middle Earth" of New Zealand's South Island with a feeling of being far removed from the rest of the world. Despite this, the handful of the island's more urban areas helped bring in a fresh wave of culture, especially music. Nick thrived on the work of such maverick producers and arrangers like Arthur Russell and Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine - both had managed to merge the avant-garde, pop and dance communities in different but relative ways, and this greatly appealed to Nick. While drumming in The Brunettes (whose Sub Pop debut is also due in 2007), he began recording his own tunes in earnest. As the music took shape, he realized the songs were exhibiting a very eclectic but unified character and he needed to name it something, to make it all official. The name came to him easily after getting engrossed in the hyper-real eighties teen melodrama Pretty In Pink (whose soundtrack was like a mix tape of Nick's own influences). From this unlikely source came the 'Pinks' portion of the name (appropriate for the hazy dream-like melodies he was effortlessly coming up), while the 'Shocking' part stemmed from his desire to never have the listener get too comfortable or lost in the music, usually kept awakened by drum and bass sounds that are recorded way into the red. Nick originally set out to record the debut record Dance The Dance Electric (for Christchurch label Pinacolada Records) with friends from local bands, but tellingly, most of the album ended up being performed by Nick himself. By this time, after setting aside painting and film making, he had managed to teach himself how to play every instrument he needed for the record. For Nick the music was so personal that he felt strange having others learn and play his music. He needed to be the one to play it all for the listener. It was his story. Around this time he was signed to the label Flying Nun, who issued two albums in mid to late 2005. The DFA had followed Nick's career since his first album and were early in recognizing a kindred aesthetic. They began working with Nick to bring his work to a larger worldwide audience. Nick and the DFA discussed new ways to merge and remaster both Flying Nun albums into a more concise statement and release it worldwide. The result is the self-titled debut for DFA/Astralwerks - a 17-track album clocking in at a precise 45 minutes. Look for upcoming remixes from Deerhunter , The Glimmers , Arkitype, and Eluvium. TRACKLISTING |
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