Copenhagen band Poptones are about to release their second album Pure tomorrow on September 26th via Happy Metal Records. The band, made up of Mads Bertelsen (vocals/bass), Simon Hiemstra (guitar), and Anders Poulsen (drums), have been playing together since adolescence, but it was their time at Copenhagen’s Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC) that truly shaped their sound.
This album is tough to pin down, in the best way. Drawing from prog, hardcore, noise rock, post-metal, and avant-garde traditions, Pure leans into a sonic palette that includes not just the usual guitar-bass-drums trio setup, but also saxophone, vibraphone, lap steel, and metallic field recordings. Standout track ‘Mirror World’ features Victor Kaas (of EYES / LLNN), who injects the song with his signature throat-splitting vocals, pushing the band’s heavy tendencies even further into post-apocalyptic chaos.
Ahead of the release of Pure we asked the band about some of their musical influences…
Spiderland – Slint
Slint has always been one of our biggest inspirations as a band. When our musical taste has changed over the years, our favourite bands and inspirations change as well – but Slint has always stayed at the top. Their music is creepy, unsettling, full of surprises and emotions while just being performed extremely well.
We always enjoy experimenting and even doing what might seem like ‘stupid’ things to find inspiration. I decided to tune the guitar in a very dissonant way, something like E-Bb-D#-G#-C-Eb, or like that. Then I just tried to play the chords of the beautiful guitar in Slint’s ‘Washer’. That idea made the foundation of our track ‘This Will Be A Good Day’.
In general, Slint has been a huge inspiration for how we play our instruments. The dissonances on bass and guitar have influenced mine (Simon) and Mads’ playing, our approach to harmonic progressions, and our use of radical dynamic changes shaping harmonic progressions and radical dynamic changes. A direct Slint inspiration can also be heard on the chord that opens the outro of our track ‘Say Something Now’. That kind of chord has become one of the roots of our music, and it’s definitely inspired by Slint.
We are, to say the least, very inspired by Slint and have been so for the last ten years. But we don’t want to sound like Slint. They have this completely unique sound that is untouchable and only theirs. The way they have recorded that sounds both lo-fi and hi-fi is really a masterpiece where some parts make you feel like you are in the rehearsal space with them, and others like you are traveling on an intergalactic fuzz-spaceship, destroying everything on its way.
While the direct Slint inspiration might be more clear on our debut Between Darkness & Daylight, their spirits continue to haunt us and probably will forever.
Elliott Smith – Either/or
Elliott Smith might not be the first artist/songwriter that pops into your mind when stumbling upon us. But nevertheless it has been a huge inspiration, especially for me, Mads. I’m always amazed by how insanely good his guitar sounds and together with the melodies he puts on top with his very near and heartfelt voice, it just immediately inspires me to write music. And also, there’s something very drawing about the whole tension in his songs. The entire story about Elliott Smith is very tragic of course, and it’s easy to hear how he struggled, but it is pretty remarkable how someone can write both so clearly and so beautifully about something so dark.
When I wrote ‘17 Hours’ I listened to Elliott Smith on a daily basis, and I started learning how to play his songs on the guitar. It was so fun and inspiring, especially because of all the different tunings he used. So after playing his songs I just continued playing whatever came to my mind, and suddenly the whole chorus of 17 Hours was there. Often when I create melodies on vocals I usually imagine my voice extremely near and in your face but at the same time sung in quite soft, filling the whole stereo image. It’s something I’ve noticed Elliott Smith was doing a lot. RIP Elliott.
Swans – To Be Kind
Swans is what we always wanted to be, but never had the patience to accomplish, haha.
They have been a huge inspiration for us in our way of approaching harmony, sound, and especially the interplay between bass and drums. Swans just have a way to make something simple extremely groovy. Simple might not be the right word, but at least something static. Take, for example, ‘Oxygen’ or ‘To Be Kind’ (the track). Quite simple in its progression and sound, but just extremely intense at the same time. It’s so inspiring how they can take one idea and stretch it out until it becomes completely overwhelming, almost like a ritualistic listening experience.
We have tried to work with that ourselves, which is probably most clear on our track ‘Eyes Closed’. It’s long, percussive, static, and meditative, slowly building into this chaotic climax that feels like everything is falling apart and coming together at the same time. When we were writing it, we were definitely thinking about how Swans use repetition to build energy, but of course, we wanted to reinterpret that through our own sound and through our own ways of improvising. Adding instruments like vibraphone and saxophone felt like our way of pushing that same kind of intensity into a different direction.
