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Die „Kings Of The Class“ sind zurück! Nachdem sich Alaska im Jahre 2005, kurz nach dem Erscheinen ihres wundervollen Albums “Nouveau Liberty” aus der Öffentlichkeit zurückgezogen hatten, sind sie nun mit neuer Besetzung und neuen Songs zurück. Soundtechnisch befinden sich Alaska mit feinem Pop irgendwo zwischen Twee und Shoegaze. Ähnlich wie Belle & Sebastian - ihren Brüdern und Schwestern im Geiste - schaffen sie es in ihren geschmackvoll instrumentierten Songs sowohl Fragilität mit Energie, als auch swingende Spannung mit unterschwelligen Grooves zu vereinen. Klingt nicht wirklich neu, ist aber immer wieder aufregend schön!

alaska - "kings of the class ep." (1999, Marsh-Marigold Records)
The new lightness. – That's what one might be tempted to say with a sigh of relief, bearing in mind all the bigheads' and bigbeats' so called pop music. However, one swallow doesn't make a summer, and the "new" can only exist as a conceptual counterpart to the dominant patterns. The name of the game rather is variation than innovation – the aim is to develop new arrangements of forms in a given artistic frame. ALASKA have dedicated themselves to the fine popsong as a sensitive carrier of beauty and memories. Similar to their brothers and sisters in mind, BELLE & SEBASTIAN, they develop a subliminal groove in their music which adds an elegantly swinging tension, dynamic, and energy to their fragile songs. On the other hand Torben's singing reminds one more of the young Billy Corgan than of Stuart Murdoch or even Nick Drake. The whole band seems to make more use of eighties resources (FELT, GO-BETWEENS, SARAH) than to dive deeply into sixties nostalgia. This is how ALASKA on their debut single show us the way to the adept. Because the deciding factor in the judgement of the more or less obvious references and reverences is simply the fact that "Kings of the Class" gives us three absolutely beautiful popsongs, which have not been here before. Truly: kings of their class...

alaska - "nouveau liberty" (2005, Marsh-Marigold Records)
this is the debut album from this hamburg group, and the first release since their debut single back in 1999. even with several years in between, the sound of the two records is not very different, with the band playing fragile pop that fits somewhere between FELT, THE STARLETS and SODASTREAM (the australian one). the band displays a soft touch with the music and vocals throughout the record, with soft acoustic guitars, light drums (on the songs that even use drums at all) and frequent use of violin and organ. the album's single, 'she was a rockstar', is probably the most rocking of the songs, but even that doesn't get very loud. a pleasant and relaxing album to listen to in the early morning. on marsh-marigold records.