Release: Carl Schilde - Europop

Carl Schilde - Europop

Release date: Friday, February 4th 2022

Initially sparked by a disappointing experience in Los Angeles, EUROPOP is Carl Schilde’s debut solo album. Despite what the title suggests, it’s spiritually closer to a Laurel Canyon pool party than a Stockholm nightclub.

In fact, it was recorded somewhere in between. While holed up in his Toronto basement, Carl’s lifelong obsession with outdated pop trickery launched him into an alternate sonic universe— one where The Beach Boys’ late-70s albums were big hits, and long-forgotten Italian soft rock is the style du jour. The results are ten songs about feeling out of place and out of time in the music world. Beneath the record’s dream-like pace, the preset sounds of yesteryear ripple through like relics of hit-making technology.

EUROPOP is also an ode to the people working on the fringes of the music business—the co- and ghost-writers of this world—without whom the actual stars couldn’t possibly shine. While some might get a “name drop in a four-star review” (“Phase”), others give up and get real jobs, perhaps collecting road-worn guitars in an attempt to relive their youths (“Roadworn”). With EUROPOP, Carl makes peace with his own limitations, subverting themes like “making it” with a Jim O’Rourke-esque wink in his eye. For now, he’s content to daydream by a pool somewhere in the Hollywood Hills, just like his illustrated avatar on the album’s cover. Sometimes fantasy is enough.

Born and raised in West Berlin sometime in the 80s, Carl has already had several musical incarnations. From a Berlin Art Prize nomination for his single-note vinyl record (“The whole concept makes me upset” — VICE), to glimpsing the album charts by co-writing an aging crooner’s magnum opus (“Glamorous” — NY Times), he has always been more interested in exploring different angles than building a career. Since a transcontinental move to Canada, his focus has shifted from the conceptual to the immediate music-making process, with all its imperfections. An avid live performer, Carl is also a member of Playdate, whose album “Manitoulin Tapes” (“a blissed out lo-fi ambient gem” — The Wire) was recently released on Séance Centre.Following the self-released single TOP 40, which has reached over 130k streams on Spotify, EUROPOP is scheduled to be released on February, 4th, 2022 on Staatsakt’s new interplanetary imprint, Fun In The Church. 

For more information contact: Stefan.Hayes@v2benelux.com