New Music: Spielbergs

Spielbergs reecently shared their forthcoming new album Vestli, via Big Scary Monsters. ‘The New Year’s Resolution’ marks the latest in a string of heavy-hitting singles from the band, who first announced Vestli with the double A-side single release, ‘When They Come For Me‘ / ‘Get Lost‘, and ‘Every Living Creature’. ‘The New Year’s Resolution’ is ultimately a song of positivity, about facing a fear and emerging from the other side unscathed.

Singer and guitarist Mads Baklien says: “When do you lose control of something? The New Year’s Resolution is about the place where you wonder if you just take one more step, there will be no turning back. You will lose everything and everyone you ever cared for. And then you take that step anyway. And you’re OK, you didn’t screw up everything after all. So you take another.”

As Spielbergs fast-established themselves as a refuge for like-minds, people seeking a place to hear something they recognised in themselves, their wielding of a sound that melded indie-rock, post-rock, punk and echoes of 90’s emo, resonated far beyond their native Oslo. Their music existed as a way to escape, a place to get lost within, so with Vestli coming into view it might be a surprise to hear the band focussing their attentions on feelings of being trapped. That trapping could be by geography or by emotion but either way, the songs that make up Vestli carve a path paved made of doubt, isolation, and fear.

Continuing about the new album, he says: “The songs on Vestli are all more or less about a feeling that there is no way to go. No escape. You are dealing with issues in your mind, regrets, shame, fear, should haves and could haves. No way out. Maybe you don’t like who you are or who you have become. You are stuck with being you. You are dealing with a lot of pressure and noise in your everyday life, and all you want to do sometimes is just to leave everything behind and find a quiet place somewhere to start a new life. But you can’t. You have commitments and responsibilities. You’re going nowhere. And now on top of everything, the entire world seems like an out-of-control aeroplane with a bunch of f***ing nuts behind the wheel. And there is no way out.  You carry the place you grew up inside you your whole life, for good or bad. Vestli is the name of the suburban borough in the north-eastern part of Oslo where both Stian and I grew up. You can leave Vestli but Vestli never leaves you.”

“An amazing band” – Dan P Carter, BBC Radio 1

“Joyfully ragged, emo-esque, power-pop songs.” – The Guardian

“One of the most exciting bands of the year.” – The i Paper

“Fans of fuzzy, propulsive cathartic jams, are about to have a new favourite band.” – Kerrang!

“They’ve perhaps made the best debut of 2019 so far.” – NME

Pre-order the album here. Spielbergs have also announced a run of headline EU / UK dates. Tickets are on sale now directly from venues.

Spielbergs 2022 Tour Dates

Sept 15 – Hamburg, DE – Astra Stube
Sept 16 – Berlin, DE – Lost Evenings Fest
Sept 17 – Nurnberg, DE – Club Stereo
Sept 18 – Jena, DE – Rosenkeller
Sept 22 – Norwich, UK – Voodoo Daddys
Sept 23 – Northampton, UK – The Black Prince *
Sept 24 – Glasgow, UK – Hug and Pint
Sept 26 – Southampton, UK – Heartbreakers
Sept 27 – Brighton, UK – Prince Albert 
Sept 28 – Bristol, UK – The Lanes
Sept 30 – Manchester, UK – 33 Oldham St
Oct 1 – London, UK – Old Blue Last
Oct 28 – Oslo, NO – Vaterland
Oct 29 – Trondheim, NO – Trykkeriet
Nov 3 – Bergen, NO – Kulturhuset
Nov 4 – Stavanger, NO – Folken
Nov 16 – Stockholm, SE – Bar Brooklyn 
Nov 17 – Gothenburg, SE – Skjul Fyra Sex
Nov 18 – Copenhagen, DK – Rahuset
Nov 19 – Malmo, SE – Medley

Photo Credit: Johan Malvik