Cosmopaark has today released their new EP titled ‘Backyard’. I always find myself asking ‘what is shoegaze?’. Since I’ve been doing this, I’m finding, more and more, that it is more than the cover of a many page book. That book is endless. actually. Cosmospaark displays some of those faces of shoegaze, and alternative music, with these five tracks from ‘Backyard’.
Overall, a sweet cacophony of guitar soaked pop rock with monster hooks that chug along to the brilliant beat and atmosphere created by the creative output that is Cosmopaark. But, what sticks out to me, is the soundscape that they’ve created with an EP. While I’ve never really been a fan of EPs (I prefer the 10+ track format), there is an endearment with these five songs that leave you wanting more. Diversity in the combination of everything yet a uniqueness you can’t deny. Just press play and let it take you there for yourself.
About ‘Backyard’
After making a big impact with their first album and I can’t breathe enough (2023), both in France and across the Atlantic, Cosmopaark returns this year with a new EP called Backyard. Not only do these five new tracks fulfill the promises of authentic shoegaze hinted at by their precedent album, but they also take the Bordeaux-based trio down a more modern path.
In the manner of their mentors Slowdive, who never stopped taking risks with each new record, Cosmopaark offers this time a resolutely modern and forward-looking artistic approach. This new EP, recorded at Shorebreak Studio (France) with Johannes Buff (Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Lysistrata…) and Pierre Loustaunau (Petit Fantôme), pushes the limits of the genre with an unprecedented boldness and enthusiasm in the band’s journey so far. It’s not to say that the band has abandoned their glide guitar walls, which have never sounded as brilliant as on these five tracks. Rather, the search for sound structures to support their wall of sound now takes on more uninhibited means: subtle electronic incursions, discreet keyboards, shared vocals at times, and new textures explored even more deeply with new pedals or ambitious production techniques.
Cosmopaark explains : “Usually, we work in our home studio, but this time we decided to go to a professional recording studio. For nearly two weeks, we recorded our EP at Shorebreaker with Johannes Buff handling mixing and recording, along with Pierre Loustaunau as the artistic director. The idea was to bring new colors to our identity and put a special emphasis on production. We were able to push the textures further by using Pierre’s amazing synthesizers and running our drum machines through various effect modules. We experimented with different vocal textures, notably adding touches of auto- tune here and there. Being able to do all this with top-notch professional recording was a first for us.
About Cosmopaark
Formed in 2018 at the initiative of songwriter Clément Pelofy, Cosmopaark quickly became a power trio with Baptiste Sauvion (drums) and Wanda Meha (bass). Over the years, Cosmopaark has evolved within the Bordeaux music community that often warmly welcomes bands influenced by the 90s. The trio set itself apart with its first EP Sunflower released on Flippin’ Freaks Records. The record brought the band under the spotlight, getting over one million streams on Spotify with the track “Mr. BigYellowSun”.
While the influence of shoegaze pioneers is undeniable (My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive), the band possesses something extra, and the intelligence to occasionally lift their gaze from their pedals to draw inspiration from a more modern American scene (DIIV, Nothing, Ovlov). Fuzz and reverbs take center stage in their impenetrable walls of sound, yet the melody always manages to find its way through. Introverted but generous, dreamy but fierce, melancholic but intense, Cosmopaark’s music continually evolves within these same paradoxes embodied by the teenage characters in Gus Van Sant’s films. It’s this dichotomy, between meditative introspection and radical expression, that makes Cosmopaark so unique within the indie landscape and opens the doors to numerous stages across France, with notable opening acts for bands like Ride in Bordeaux and an appearance at Lollapalooza Paris.
The band’s debut album and I can’t breathe enough was released in 2023 on Howlin’ Banana Records, Flippin’ Freaks Records, and Stellar Frequencies. It marked a new milestone for the trio and was noted as “the best French shoegaze album of 2023” by Mowno. The band’s sound deepens, and their themes become more serious.
While Cosmopaark’s early songs often expressed a longing for elsewhere, eyes alternating between the sky and their effect pedals, this first album carves out a space saturated with suffocating questions and doubts. The moments of respite are found in the softness of the melodies and guitar textures, highlighted by impeccable production, as well as in the band’s photographic universe. The group’s artwork and videos, almost entirely created by Clément Pelofy, push these contemplative chiaroscuro light plays into new horizons. And I can’t breathe enough was an exemplary album with a mastery of the ‘traditional’ shoegaze codes, applied to perfection. It seemed difficult to do better. The band understood this well by choosing to do something different with this new EP Backyard.
Featured image by Mathilde Rey.
LINKS:
https://cosmopaark.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/cosmopaark
https://www.instagram.com/cosmopaark/