Eighty Eight months adrift in spacetime. A prolonged and provocative absence of actuality. A tantalising and total truancy. A lengthy leave. Cut then, to future shock. A rapturously received new 7” concept-single 'Our Goal To Realise'. A stunningly successful UK tour that saw them “rewinding back to the future as if they’d never been away” (Drowned In Sound - Shows That Shook 2017). It was all just the beginning, again...
On Friday 13th April, Amusement Parks On Fire will redouble their reemergence with the release of a new extended-play single 'All The New Ends' and a return to the now academically termed ‘mainland’ Europe, seemingly redeeming a renewed relevance for the group and what may be their last opportunity to pursue commercial endeavours in the European Economic Area without the compulsory procurement of prohibitively expensive work visas.
After a triumphant turn together in November, artistic and aesthetic assistance for April's outing once again comes in the guise of Linn Frøkedal and Richard Myklebust. Ordinarily operating as approximately 50% of Bergen, Norway's The Megaphonic Thrift, as Misty Coast they are purveyors of perfect post-psych. Delivered in September via Club AC30, their debut long-player was described by Gigslutz as "a dream-pop masterpiece".
‘Ethereal guitar band' Amusement Parks On Fire first came to prominence in 2004 with the release of the eponymous debut album, conceived and consummated by the then-adolescent founder Michael Feerick and phonically actualised on a shoestring. Issued on Geoff Barrow (of Portishead)’s Invada label, it was described by the New Musical Express as "hedonistic teenage genius" and saw itself projected onto the planetary meta-retina.
A live line-up was essentially preformed and extensively performed with the likes of Dinosaur Jr, M83 and dEUS among innumerable other acts of the era. The unit then retreated to Sigur Rós’ private swimming-pool sanctuary Sundlaugin in Álafoss, Iceland to complete the venturesome sophomore release 'Out Of The Angeles', during which time they experimented with sleep, sustenance and sunlight deprivation at the insistence of V2 Records.
After several years of international incidence the band crash-landed in Los Angeles in 2009 to make 'Road Eyes' with producers Michael Patterson (Beck, Nine Inch Nails) and Nicolas Jodoin (Arcade Fire, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club). Again inspired by the locale, the collection was intended as 'a skewed Californian contemporary-classical' with Alternative Press characterising it as "sun-drenched, challenging and gratifying… a near-perfect album".
