Fire Records

4 track EP cut at 45rpm on green vinyl. 1000 copies worldwide.

'Sweet psychedelic pop from your new favourite Swedes.. nocturnal track, California Owls is hypnotic, this is dream pop at its absolute best.' i-D

'Our dreamiest pick this week - ¦ "California Owls," pairs reverb-soaked vocals with a harpsichord-like synth that sounds like sunlight filtered through water.' NPR

'California Owls' could almost be Beach House. At least until it descends into a two-minute cascade of bird noises. Enchanting stuff.' Loud & Quiet / 'Nilsson's vocals bob in an ocean of reverb on California Owls'evoke everything from Czech cinema soundtracks to The Velvet Underground channelled through their uniquely distorted lens' Clash

'California Owls,' a tidy three and a half minutes of airy-pop gorgeousness followed by two more combining chirping birds and tones reminiscent of a distant calliope amidst the reliable retro-futurism.' The Vinyl District

Following the success of their critically acclaimed To Where The Wild Things Are'released in May, Death And Vanilla return with EP California Owls'EP, featuring two non-album tracks. Forming in Malmö, Sweden by Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson, Death and Vanilla utilise vintage musical equipment such as vibraphone, organ, mellotron, tremolo guitar and moog, to emulate the sounds of 60s/70s soundtracks, library music, German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych. They revel in the warmth of older analogue instruments to create a more organic sound, each loose wire and off-kilter noise adding to the rich atmosphere. 

Creating deliciously enticing soundscapes, full of moody moogs and breathless vocals, their influences are as diverse as their music. Passionate about the culture of the 60s/70s, Death And Vanilla have the retro-futuristic edge of Broadcast with Stereolab leanings and the electronic library sounds of the BBC Electronic Workshop. Opulent and timeless, California Owls'is a reverb soaked spectral-pop song drenched in 60s-psych while the dark and swirling melodies of Follow The Light'has a Walk Away Renee pace'(Guardian).

Their new EP brings together old songs with the new, much like the samples and the instruments they use, whilst capturing the haunting and wild dreamy experimental edge of To Where The Wild Things Are'.

Tracklisting:
1. California Owls
2. Follow the Light
3. Erté
4. Reality From Dream

2 vinyl editions, one blue one orange both on 160 gm vinyl, both include downloads. 

Whether their muse lies in 60s sci-fi soundtracks, The Radiophonic Workshop, the prototype electronic sounds of The United States Of America, the retro-futuristic edge of Broadcast, the dream pop ambience of Angelo Badalamenti/Julie Cruise, or the shimmering shroud of Mazzy Star, will doubtless be raised in countless interviews.

But what matters more is that Death And Vanilla have woven a stunning tapestry that envelops all that preceded them, into a literally head-turning album, of kaleidoscopic proportions... Formed in Malmö, Sweden by Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson, Death and Vanilla utilise vintage musical equipment such as vibraphone, organ, mellotron, tremolo guitar and moog, to emulate the sounds of 60s/70s soundtracks, library music, German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych.

They revel in the warmth of older analogue instruments to create a more organic sound, each loose wire and off-kilter noise adding to the rich atmosphere. After a handful of successful releases including a debut EP in 2010, their self-titled LP in 2012 – which sold out on pre-order – and a beautifully designed 7” single, the experimental pop duo were invited to compose a live soundtrack for the classic horror film, Vampyr (1932), for the Lund Fantastisk Film festival in Lund. Now, newly signed to Fire, the band return with ‘To Where The Wild Things Are.’

Named after the Maurice Sendak children’s book, the album is comprised of pop music with a wild, dreamy and experimental edge, celebrating imagination and the ability to travel to stranger recesses of the mind. ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ starts off with some of the most “pop” songs they’ve ever recorded, typified in the sweet and melodramatic “Arcana”, and the classic pop inspired “Time Travel”. Like Sendak’s book of the same name, the album then proceeds into stranger and stranger territory, resulting in some of the most experimental material Death and Vanilla have produced, such as the six minute “Something Unknown You Need to Know” and the machine-like, surf-guitar track “The Hidden Reverse”.

The band recorded the new album themselves in their rehearsal space, using just one microphone – a 70’s Sennheiser – which they bought at a flea market for a tenner. It is this unconventional recording process that gives Death and Vanilla their unique personality; using a trial and error approach to recording has rewarded the album with a strangeness that would not have otherwise been achievable.

Creating deliciously enticing soundscapes, full of moody moogs, swirling melodies and breathless vocals, their influences on ‘To Where the Wild Things Are’ are apparent and diverse, ranging from Ennio Morricone to Scott Walker, Tom Dissevelt to Norman Whitfield, The Zombies to Sun Ra, and Bo Hansson to The BBC Radiophonic workshop.