Feeling alienated from the world might as well be what most of us feel nowadays, strangers to the world’s actual scenarios in a general sense. Translating to “foreigner” today’s haunting single by London artist Glass Sands talks about this feelings of alienation, loneliness, and the yearning to fit in a new and unfamiliar place.
Glass Sands is the recording alias of musician Chris Shackleton, one whose music combines elements of rock and electronica, with vocals reminiscent of Thom Yorke’s Pablo Honey era.
“Auslander” is his first release of five years, written during a break from music and it is his most mature and focused work to date yet, featuring darker and more experimental forms of rock. Somewhat somber, but still captivating, Auslander’s vibes capture the feelings of disconnection with the unknown when you arrive to an unfamiliar place, in this case, the city of Berlin. “I’ve moved to new cities quite a few times and I always have trouble at first trying to find new people and places to fit in so the song definitely draws a lot from that as well.” says Chris.
Chris was living on his own in the city, which led him to spend a lot of time walking around the streets and going to bars hoping to strike up a conversation with someone. “I was trying to learn German so I had a real complex about only speaking German to people, but I was so self-conscious that I usually didn’t say anything to anyone and sat in the corner on my own.”
The backbone chords of the song came to him one day when he was playing around with a guitar on his flat, flushing out the song over the next few days, including the lyrics and the idea for the breakdown in the middle. Auslander has this special aura, one that feels almost familiar, contrary to song’s title; mixing elements of shoe-gaze, alt rock and electronica, Glass Sands crafted a spacial, dark, chill wave of crunchy guitars and orbital synths, with beautiful and haunting vocal melodies.
Glass Sands decided to step out of his musical break to bring us a style of music beyond what he was doing before, a more mature and experimental approach, taking influence from take influence from all kinds of subgenres like rock, indie, alternative, art rock, post-punk, psychedelia, shoegaze, krautrock, post-rock, trip hop, noise.
He also has a new single ready to release next month, a remastered version of his debut album Happy Hour at the Oxygen Bar after that, and a new album which is currently in the mixing stage.
So if you enjoy Glass Sand’s music don’t forget to suppport and follow him on Instagram, Facebook, Soundcloud, and Spotify. If you enjoy his music and are able to provide monetary support, you can download his music on Bandcamp.
It also helps to stream and share his music in the following Playlists: Debut Bands (Off The Radar), Fresh Singles, Less Than 1,000 Followers, and Indie Only.
P.S. If you enjoy discovering new artists and fresh new music you can subscribe to this blog Less Than 1,000 Followers and follow the Playlist with all the artists that we have presented here!!!