We’re pleased to premiere the new single from Sweden-based Australian artist Kaapstaad, called‘Aula’, a downtempo delight that will have you wishing summer was here and that this was the soundtrack to your boat trip or beach lounging. It may only be spring at the moment, but this track is cooler than cool – a song that surely would allow one’s imagination to wander to Arctic chills even in the midst of the summer heat. Dive in now while you can. Surely he’ll be moving on to more sensory-stimulating sonic thrills soon enough.
After accumulating more than 1 million views on YouTube and 800K streams on Spotify with his band Tiny Fighter, Spelman used the downtime imposed by covid lockdowns to indulge his original passion for film & game scores. Moving between his two homes of Sweden and Australia, Kaapstaad took on a life of its own, beginning with his debut single ‘Night’, which we featured earlier.
For ‘Aula’, Kaapstaad teamed up with British production company UNTHNKBLE to create a spectacular cinematic video featuring drone footage taken over epic, sweeping landscapes. His chiming notes and chilled textures seem to paint images of the Baltic landscape that conceived it.
An outlet for his more introspective, downtempo solo creations, Kaapstaad is the solo electronic project of Tim Spelman, the driving force behind indie pop outfit Tiny Fighter and post-rock project Fire To The Stars. This music is influenced by such notable artists as Neils Frahm, Olafur Arnalds, Ludovico Enaudi, BVG, Agnes Obel, Tibeauthetraveller and Grouper.
Both ‘Aula’ and ‘Night’ were performed, recorded and produced in Stockholm and Sunshine Coast, Australia by Tim Spelman. ‘Night’ was where it all started and, with support from Swedish collaborators Marcus Wallberg and Tommy Wilen, Kaapstaad became a project in its own right.
Tim Spelman notes, “Night’ was originally composed for a short film score that never saw the light of the day. Intended as a lullaby-meets-soundscape, the idea was to combine a simple melody with field recordings taken out in a Swedish forest at night – that’s the rain, insects and crackles you can hear in the background of the song. Whilst the film soundtrack never eventuated, I was very happy with both the process and the product – something very different to the indie-pop/post-rock of my previous bands. So happy, in fact, it gave birth to an entirely new project – Kaapstaad.”
‘Aula is out now, available everywhere online, including Spotify and Apple Music, but is available to order directly from the artist via the artist’s own Bandcamp at https://kaapstaad.bandcamp.com/album/aula
VIDEO CREDITS
Drone Pilots – Harry Steele & Ethan Parker
Editor – Harry Steele
Grade – Harry Steele
Creative Direction – Oska Zaky
Produced by @UNTHNKBLE
