An excellent dreampop album came out today from Toronto based musician/producer Patrick Fiore's Noble Oak. His work, along with Dayve Hawke's Memory Tapes have became my favorite dreampop artists.
I discovered Memory Tapes (then Weird Tapes / Hail Social) back in the early 2000's, making my recent discovery of Patrick's work in spring 2015 a welcomed surprise.
Now released to iTunes, Spotify, as well as in it's entirety on the Noble Oak Soundcloud, his latest 15-track album is available for the world to hear. It's pleasant and introspective without being too somber. The synthetic and guitar melodies carry each song along with well worded vocals that provide depth, and anchor each track wonderfully.
Noble Oak
SoundCloud
Facebook
Awash in hues of blue and magenta, The one man band 'Noble Oak' crafted a compelling form of emotive chillwave. Originally from Vancouver, ' Patrick' has recently moved to Toronto, Ontario.
I first heard his music in the spring of this year, and hearing it now still transports me to a tropical, introspective place. Patrick's live show was impressive - draped in his guitar and surrounded by various synthesizers and his laptop and microphone, he performed the work of a whole band single handed my. over was only $7, and provides access to multiple bands. Unfortunately, Noble Oak's synth-based, highly textured sound was in a category of its own that evening.
In a set lasting 30 minutes, Noble Oak combined smooth, tropical background texture with live riffs from various synthesizers, his guitar, and his voice to create a sonic space that was somber, yet upbeat. Songs ranged from soulful to danceable synthpop and back again. The only disappointing aspect of the set was its relatively short length, as other artists needed setup and performance time. I and friends eagerly await Patrick's next performance as 'Noble Oak'. C
High Tides self-titled 1st release is some very relaxing tropical/coastal sounding chillwave (in the vein of Tycho) with a touch of TOBACCO's Psychrock and some wonderful nowave styled looping mixed in.
The pre-release tracks (Coastal Cruise '86, and Sunware) compromised my go-to soundtrack this summer, and I can't recommend High Tides enough:
Five of the tracks even have custom music videos that use recycled vintage 8mm-style beach videos from the 1960s-1980s to further shape the beach aesthetic High Tides flows with. It's a nice touch.
Interestingly enough, some early versions of the tracks are available on a near-forgotten Soundcloud account, but have been primarily released through Rad Cult (Tobacco's label) on their Soundcloud.
The only substantial presence this has is on BandCamp - so go buy this now, as it's worth appreciating in levels beyond the 128k MP3 preview quality.
