Ten years have passed since THE UPTIGHTSโ debut cassette, At the Wรถrthersee Hotel, first surfaced online. The sad and eerie tape sounded like little else, owing as much to books and old radio/TV vignettes as to indie guitar music. Now Osloโs unsung lo-fi heroes are back. Their new album “It is for them that the lights twinkle” features 10 hanting, melancholic and experimental post-punk tracks recorded to cassette, and is out today! Their first album in ten years ranges from explosions of noise and upbeat punk energy to soothing drones and hushed acoustic strums. We’re thrilled to give you its full listen and special top 10 inspirations feature below!
Taking its name from Lewis Mumfordโs The Culture of Cities (1938), IIFTTTLT revolves loosely around isolation and the city โ from subdued fragments of lives to electric bursts of energy. The ten tracks were recorded to cassette in a damp rehearsal space between 2012 and 2016. They stem from a batch of songs originally intended for a double LP.
Throughout the years the The Uptights have resurfaced for the occasional show, most recently opening for Molchat Doma (BY) last year. In 2019 they became a four-piece.
The Uptights are releasing their first album in ten years today, on June 25th.
10 THINGS THAT INFLUENCED THE UPTIGHTSโ NEW LP, ยซIT IS FOR THEM THAT THE LIGHTS TWINKLEยป
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1. Frantiลกek Kupka โ ยซFour stories in black and whiteยป
The Czech painter and graphic artistโs ยซFour stories in black and whiteยป from 1926 (and his studies in black and white, which led up to its publication) were an inspiration for the album artwork. It pointed out a direction for Andreas no. 2โs early sketch of the light bulb, which he ended up cutting in lino in the end.
2. Guided By Voices โ the lo-fi years
Guided By Voicesโs (many) records from their lo-fi years inspired us to record to cassette when we first formed in 2010. And weโve never stopped since. ยซClub Molluskaยป, which kicks in a minute and 45 seconds into this short documentary, is a good example of the kind of songs that got us hooked. GBVโs cassette recordings have an aura of mystery to them that you donโt get with your regular rockโnโroll band.
3. Andreas no. 2โs dreams
Andreas no. 2 quite literally dreamt the instrumental ยซAmong Verticalsยป and recorded a demo on his phone when he awoke. The title is taken from a Frantiลกek Kupka painting, so Czech artist must have made an impression on him.
Andreas no. 2 wrote the music for ยซArthaus Rockยป as well. รyvind wrote the melody on ยซBรฆrยป, Andreas no. 1 the rest of the album. We did the arrangements together.
4. Lewis Mumford โ The Culture of Cities (1938)
The title ยซIt Is for them that the lights twinkleยป is taken from a paragraph in Lewis Mumford’s 1938 book, ยซThe Culture of Citiesยป, describing how the lights of adverts and theatres twinkle at the crowds at night. Our album offers brief impressions of city dwellers. From the old lady speaking in a slightly old fashioned and broken Norwegian of her past and inner lives on ยซBรฆrยป, to the ยซpompous man with shiny shoesยป in the phone booth late at night on ยซRings Hollowยป.
5. The Slow Painters
Andreas no. 1 and รyvind play in a jangly indie pop/rock band called The Slow Painters as well. Two of the songs on ยซIIFTTTLTยป were originally intended for them: ยซDaysยป and ยซSwacketยป.
At the time The Uptights recorded the songs, sometime between 2012 and 2015, The Slow Painters werenโt as active as they are now. Their debut LP came out last year, 16 years after they formed.
6. Our old rehearsal space
A little L shaped room in an old brick warehouse, what more can a man ask for? These dark pictures are pretty indicative of the lighting in the room. All the music on the album was recorded there.
If you look closely at the second picture, youโll see our Tascam 488 tape recorder and the old telephone Andreas no. 1 bought while living in Berlin. Our friend รystein Dale Svendsen (Youth Pictures of Florence Henderson, Ben Leiper and Aldrin) turned it into a microphone. We used that to record the vocals on ยซTonightโs Coolest Concert.ยป The title was lifted straight off of a makeshift concert poster, which was hanging on the wall.
7. The Uptights โ At the Wรถrthersee Hotel (2011)
Our debut cassette is still our most important point of reference. The mood we hit on when we recorded those nine tracks is something weโve tried to preserve on ยซIIFTTTLTยป. We never really stopped recording after ยซAt the Wรถrthersee Hotelยป was done, so our new album picks up where its predecessor left off.
8. Andreas no. 1โs collection of cassette players and microcassette dictaphones
Andreas no. 1 has a little collection of cassette players and microcassette dictaphones. We love the ambience, texture and noise those little machines generate. One by one they all malfunctioned, so they were more frequently used on our first tape, but the conversation on ยซBรฆrยป was run through an old Grundig dictaphone.
9. The Telescopes, At the Drive-In and MC5
Three songs have had a direct influence on ยซIIFTTTLTยป in one way or the other. One of them is MC5โs ยซSkunk (Sonically Speaking)ยป. It gave us the idea of adding trombones on ยซQuit Jazzยป and making one of them sound like a motorcycle revving towards the end of the song.
This guitar pedal is all over our record.
