Tin Fingers has today premiered their new video for the track titled ‘LSD’, from their upcoming album ‘Rock Bottom Ballads’, releasing November 17th via Unday Records. The video drops October 26th.
The song and video are that perfect marriage of sight and sound colliding together to make a coherent piece of art. The video is that near perfect moment. Encapsulating a breath, a wink, a feeling, in a moment of personal splendor. As mundane as it may appear to an outsider, moments can be life defining, or at least carry us through darker times.
Musically, ‘LSD’ is beyond beautiful. Audibly emotional and vocally captivating, ‘LSD’ is a beautiful soundtrack to your next moment. The way the song veers from verse to chorus with no effort yet with such a difference in feeling is only something a true set of artists can accomplish. It takes Tin Fingers.
About ‘LSD’
LSD is the second single of Rock Bottom Ballads, the new album of Tin Fingers out the 17th of November on Unday Records.
This dreamy song unfolds in the mind of a six year old, riding his skateboard and playing with his plastic soldiers, totally carefree.
While the chorus literally scatters the innocent vibe into pieces with an euphoric broken rock sound supporting the warning of an old stranger: ‘Kids don’t do drugs, do LSD’.
Felix, the singer, spotted the phrase on a t-shirt worn by a middle-aged ex-hippie, and it inspired the motif of the song. Tin Fingers always had an explosive and an intimate side, but LSD is showing us their eclecticism is on point.
About Tin Fingers
Tin Fingers takes on a darker, melancholic direction on their second full album. Felix Machtelinckx’ weeping vocals, preaching, searching, and trying to understand God, form the leitmotif. With rich melodies, haunting piano sounds, improvisations, first takes and no overdubs, Tin Fingers is searching for pureness and keeping things human and simple. The band is playing together intuitively, without a computer, without ego, just for the sake of music
The creation of the album was very fluent and spontaneous. Singer Felix wrote the backbones of the songs and the lyrics on acoustic guitar and piano. He wanted to have songs ready in order to be able to record and write arrangements fast. With an eye for details but without overthinking, keeping the ideas fresh. ‘I wanted to stay in love with the music.’ he explains. ‘It needed to go fast, very fast, in just two weeks the entire album was recorded and ready to be mixed.’
In the studio, the band especially focused on picking the right mood rather than playing the right notes.
They were fed up with working on a computer for many hours, overthinking production choices, and adding instruments on top of each other as if they were Lego blocks. This time they decided to work in a more traditional way, going for first takes, jams, and essentially working with analog gear. No computers, no screens, no distractions. Only four humans in a studio trying to make a sound together by keeping things spontaneous and raw. They said goodbye to perfection and worked towards an unfinished product, a snapshot.
Tin Fingers also didn’t want to sound like any other artist on this record. They decided not to listen to music during the sessions, and to never express ideas by referencing other bands. Just before the studio session, however, bass player Simen Wouters broke the rules and shared Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy’s, I See Darkness. Its dark and searching sound ended up inspiring the band unmistakably.
Once the recording was finished, the band decided to keep the volatile rhythm going and asked reputable NYC-based mixer and producer D. James Goodwin to finish the job. Goodwin, known for his analog folk productions with a real American punchy sound but a tender touch, proved the right man for the job. He opened up the songs and kept things poetic, minimal but impressive.
The lyrics are about God, drugs, friendships, and the past. The band had a turbulent past, as teenagers diving into the world of psychedelics and coping with daddy issues. The four are all over the same hill by now, living an extremely healthy lifestyle both on tour and at home. But the memories are still there. Opening track Misstep is an homage to exactly this, all of the mistakes and the misconceived rituals of adolescence. ‘Tonight I’m going for weightlessness, Tomorrow clean up the mess, How much stretch is left on my rubber soul, My damn rubber soul.’ weeps Machtelinckx.
All this preaching and searching inevitably leads towards God. Felix has always been jealous of religious people, and how they have something to hold on to and believe in. ‘Nowadays we have no guidance and no goals, money maybe but that just can’t be enough’ Felix elaborates. So he finds a way to deal with it in his lyrics by questioning and challenging God; ‘We are children of God. But does he exist? ‘I know 5g is a myth. We are chicks locked in a cage. We do exist and Bobby is our new priest’ is one of the sarcastic ways he is addressing our time and our loss of purpose. Furthermore, a lot of the lyrics were improvised and written in the studio, keeping them spontaneous, like the music itself.
Rock Bottom Ballad, the last track on the record, is a completely improvised song where the band had their first simultaneous divine ecstasy. As they were working in the studio without a technician, to be more focused and private, Felix pressed the record button when he heard guitarist Quinten De Cuyper play a series of chords that were triggering everybody. Soon the band joined in and became one. Marnix Van Soom laid down a rhythm that sounded like a broken clock, almost like time itself. They describe it as a moment they were guided by God. Although the band is not religious they felt guided by an external force, giving them all goosebumps.
The lyrics came to Felix as he imagined a naked man, lying in a cave alone, forsaken by society, by God, and everything he loved. He hit rock bottom. Consequently, with this jam, the album title was born.
Accompanying the album is a visual concept, consisting out of 4 music videos directed by Felix Machtelinckx and Tuur Oosterlinck. It follows two brothers ghosting around, being young and free, facing their demons while supporting one another. The videos were recorded on 16mm film. Tin Fingers wanted to maintain the same analog approach as the album, forcing them to work spontaneously and minimally.
Tin Fingers is Marnix Van Soom (drums), Simen Wouters (bass, backing vocals), Quinten de Cuyper (guitar and keys) and Felix Machtelinckx (lead vocals, guitar and piano).
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