Athens dream-pop band Easter Island create music as elusive and mysterious as the geography from which they draw their name. Hushed and gorgeous melodies swirl and tangle themselves around ringing loops of effervescent guitar and echoes of persuasive percussion. But there’s no sense of emotional misdirection or aimlessness here, just the affecting work of a group of artists supremely confident in what they are doing.
Taking the beautiful vagaries of bands like Explosions in the Sky and DIIV and combining them with the forthright storytelling of David Bazan and Bully, the band synthesizes a mesmeric concoction of indie pop hiss and fuzzed-up guitar theatrics which bury themselves within the deeper parts of your body. Their upcoming sophomore album Take All the Time You Think You Need will be self-released on December 11, and across its various musical landscapes, you’ll find a collection of burly ambient pop machinations that will have your senses enflamed for days.
In their latest video — for album highlight “Always Room for Another” — lead singer Ethan Payne directs guitarist Ryan Monahan as he wanders through the breathtaking vistas of White Sands National Park, investigating decrepit houses, empty amusement parks, and exploring some of the most beautiful natural settings you’re likely to have ever seen. This video is linked in theme to some of their previous videos, continuing their use of individual experience and emotional connectedness.
The band explains: This video continues the theme of featuring each band member in their city of residence. Ryan (lead guitar) lives in Denver, CO and always wanted to visit White Sands. Because of that and the fact that our songs tend to be on the somber side, we went with the theme of playful exploration for his video. Epic landscapes, mysterious ruins, closed theme parks, etc. The themes of isolation and loneliness continue from the last video “Smoke,” but in this one Ryan is on more of an outward quest as well as inward. He’s exploring the incredible natural world around him as well as his own psyche and he’s doing it more playfully, in big goggles, and on a scooter. This video also connects Ryan in a suit in White Sands to the desert sand dune vistas of Tottori, Japan, where we saw him and Ethan Payne (lead singer) in the video for “Island Nation.”
It’s an altogether striking clip that deftly blends beatific visuals with evocative and lushly arranged sounds. The band has been refining this aesthetic for years, welding dream-pop’s iridescence to shoegaze’s roughed-up rhythms — and here, among white sands and the sapphire hues of an endless sky, they discover a perfect equilibrium between their shared musical histories.
Easter Island’s new record Take All the Time You Think You Need is due out December 11. Follow the band on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
