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Released on March 4th on Superball Music.
I first heard of Long Distance Calling when I noticed they’d be supporting Maybeshewill on a tour a couple of years ago and as a result I saw them perform at London’s Barfly. What struck me immediately was the simple fact that I couldn’t remember a band that would have so much genuine fun on stage. Aside from the great progressive rock sound, the energy between them was simply contagious, looking at their happy and grateful faces reminded me why I love going to gigs and seeing artists perform live. I put their March 2013 London date in my calendar as soon as I saw it.
Their fourth album The Flood Inside, which the tour is promoting, is definitely a stepping stone in Long Distance Calling’s career. First of all - the line up has changed. Reimut von Bonn, their founding member responsible for electronics, left the band in April 2012, but the band decided to take that to their advantage and use it as an opportunity - for themselves and to invite some great guests to collaborate with (that list includes Vincent Cavanagh from Anathema, bluesman Henrik Freischlader, singer/songwriter Petter Carlsen and Mario Cullmann of Fünf Sterne Deluxe). But vocals seemed to have been on their minds for quite some time now and that’s how Martin “Marsen” Fischer joined the band on sounds and vocal.
Long Distance Calling’s previous albums were predominantly instrumental and I know a lot of fans of progressive or post rock who look at a decision like that with a slightly dubious eye. But only one listen to The Flood Inside proves that it simply works and I personally tested it slotting ‘The Man Within’ in a DJ set during a gig; 3 different people immediately came up to ask who’s playing.
The album opens with instrumental ‘Nucleus’ which sets the tempo for the rest of the record, but it also proves that despite the changes Long Distance Calling are still absolute masters of creating a “combination of cool and heavy riffs with melodies that come without any kitsch”. The drumming is tense and restless, the melodies simply make you sway your head in appreciation as they come on and bring to mind the classic prog rock legacy.
‘Inside The Flood’ is the first song with vocals and if vocals could fit anything like a glove - they simply do. The idea that brought Marsen on board was to have a timeless rocking voice in a Faith No More type of fashion, which he undoubtedly has, and it just flows beautifully, complimenting melodies.
Opening of ‘Tell The End’ somehow reminds me of A Place To Bury Strangers, it has this certain distant, ominous feel to it. And again the classic, pure rock voice carries the song, mighty chorus adding to its power. ‘Welcome Change’ features guest vocals from aforementioned Cavanagh and Carlssen, bringing indeed a bit of an interesting change. And then there’s ‘The Man Within’, mysteriously opening with Buddhist “Our bodies are given life in the midst of nothingness. Existing without nothing is the meaning of the phrase ‘form is emptiness’” and progressing to a feast of mighty riffs overtaking Marsen’s voice, indeed as if he was sinking under flood waves.
Two songs that really stand out for me are ‘Ductus’ and ‘Waves’. They both have a meta text within them and they truly prove that Long Distance Calling are open to experiments, innovations and influences. Ductus in linguistics refers to “qualities and characteristics of writing or speaking instantiated in the act of speaking or the flow of writing the text. (…) Unlike rhythm, ductus is the performative quality that emerges by actuating the metrically arranged language in voice. It is then the specific style and character of the language as it exists within time”. The opening spoken monologue gives the example of the metrically arranged act of speech including some profound questions about life (“Why are some things kept from our vision? Is life a puzzle?”). That ductus, focused more on pitch and tone, is then overtaken by music’s tempo and rhythm. ‘Waves’ on the other hand sound like an actual scientific experiment on sound. Man’s voice teaching about how sound waves work sounds like an american 50’s educational documentary. At the same time single words “waves” and “sound” float between left and right speaker, between the right and left ear, making you appreciate a) your sound system and b) the ability of our ears to listen to sounds. It’s an amazing glorification of music and the fact that we can make it and listen to it. ‘Waves’ also features my absolutely favourite melody of the whole album.
Judging from the amount of words I just produced - I genuinely love The Flood Inside. Long Distance Calling continue to innovate their music and the fact that they’re open to collaborations proves that they’re not afraid to seek inspiration that can bring even more interesting outcomes. Their compositions have this beautifully effortless flow to them, at the same time giving the listener a lot to think about. What I also really appreciate is how the theme of flood continues through the album, giving it a concept edge. One thing is certain - I’m excited to hear hear how the band will continue to grow and I absolutely can’t wait to see them live again.
