If you’ve talked to me in the past week or two you’ve probably been asked if you’ve heard of this band Blind Seagull. And honestly, I still can’t believe not only that I wasn’t the only one sleeping on how brilliant this band was, but that they don’t somehow have a massive following.
So let me go off for a minute on why Blind Seagull is the best new band I’ve heard in recent memory. And that’s just it, too, they’re not exactly new in the slightest. Take a look at their Bandcamp page and you’ll see several releases both singles and full-length from the past few years, all brilliant and for the most part fully fleshed out in a way I’ll admit I don’t tend to expect to stumble upon while I’m trolling around for new bands to listen to on Bandcamp. But here they are, my new favorite band straight out of Russia, Blind Seagull.
This brings us to Blind Seagull’s latest release on Detriti Records Cold Hands / Pressure fully out for release on both digital and 12” vinyl May 1 2019. It’s a compilation album of 16 songs picked from various previous releases of theirs, about half of which are from their 2018 album Pressure alone.
They describe themselves as ‘a post-punk lofi band from Kalingrad’ and honestly i’ve never been more underwhelmed by a descriptor after listening to a catalog before in my life. When asked my favorite music genre I’m typically inclined to say post-punk just because of the range of music that encompasses and the sheer talent coming out of the scene right now. But truly when I say post-punk what I mean in my head is exactly what Blind Seagull sounds like.
This release truly has it all. One of Blind Seagull’s strengths is their sheer versatility in sound. Especially in their vocals which bounce around anywhere from sounded more punk inspired than anything off of tracks like endurance to the sweet mellowness you expect from a typical post-punk band as featured on save and empty halls on through the raw stylings on cold hands and train to tallinn. The actual instrumental stylings are no different in this regard with super immersive and lovely guitar work that I would consider Blind Seagull’s defining feature. Check out tracks like connections and tell me you don’t want to just dance along.
The only serious con I can really think about this release, if you can call it that, is that truthfully my favorite full length release of theirs is last summers le dernier rendez-vous which I consider an actual triumph and my favorite current album on repeat, and that none of these songs are featured on this newest comp release. It’s a minor gripe and really just encourages me to tell you to buy both albums. Cold Hands / Pressure does a really great job at showcasing everything Blind Seagull has to offer and really highlighting where they truly shined on previous releases. And despite being a 16 track effort the entire album clocks in at under 40 minutes still so you’d be hard pressed for a great reason not to give it a full listen through. However, I’m fairly confident a few tracks in you’ll find something that reminds you of why we love this genre.
You can pick up this latest album from Detriti Records’ Bandcamp page HERE which has a link to the physical 12” as well, or the rest of Blind Seagull’s previous releases and single from their own Bandcamp page HERE . Definitely a band to keep an eye on, make sure you’re following them on their IG and FB as well!
You can find Laz on Instagram at @battrashfever.
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