After a prolonged absence of five years, dream-pop artist Tidal Peak is nearing the release of a new album that was overhauled and scrapped multiple times.
'Treasureville' finds Tidal Peak, the (mostly) solo project of Kyle Lacko, embracing his music-making craft, digging deeper into the sounds of DIY dream-pop and shoegaze.Set for release in May, the album's lead single 'Coasting' finds Lacko exploring themes surrounding the return to one's original home and the associated feelings that arise when encountering familiar landscapes that feel altered.
With wind chimes opening the song, an ethereal, beautiful synthpop soundscape is soaked in a holy reverence of shoegaze tones. There's a tranquil, serene quality to the overall atmosphere of 'Coasting' that is mesmerising, almost as if your senses are floating above the delicate yet evocative track.
Kyle utilises his voice as an additional instrument, the droning rhythm vibrating with a surreal yet calming balm.
The song itself deals with "the slow, emotive buildup of emotions when you return to somewhere you haven't been for years," shares Lacko, "and you're trying to figure out if you're still relevant or regarded in any capacity while you're slowly coasting through your own life.
"It felt like the perfect track to lead as a first single, running parallel with my experience of returning to release new music after so many years in the wilderness."
Ahead of the song's release tomorrow (14 March), today scenestr is thrilled to premiere 'Coasting'. Enjoy.
While Tidal Peak had envisioned 'Coasting' to be the opening track of 'Treasureville', it will now be the first part of a 28-minute, 5-part conceptual suite on the second half of the album, titled 'Return To Capricorn' where there is "a dreamlike, progressive-pop seascape influence throughout," and is written about Lacko's childhood home town of Yeppoon on the Capricorn Coast.
The prominent element of the track is Lacko's vocals, which he spent much time building up into a choral sculpture. "I had to work very hard to sculpt my vocals into something that would suit the song's emotive buildup.
"For the longest time I was insecure about my voice and I had to find a way through the roadblocks, so I began to treat it more like an instrument by stacking and blending numerous takes together.
"There was much experimenting with things like feeding my voice through a tremolo and a vocoder to create background textures, and I'm glad to say it created a kind of atmosphere representative of the song where it feels like you're floating, but you could start to sink at any moment."
'Coasting' and its parent album represent a new chapter for Lacko in his music-making. "I can't listen to much of my previous work anymore because of my voice on those earlier releases," he says.
"The difference here is I lived with the finished tracks on 'Treasureville' for a few years before release, and now I can listen comfortably to it and not feel like I'm listening to a cheese grater sing. The album has a greater depth to it than anything prior."
'Treasureville' is due for release on 16 May. Stay tuned for our artist interview with Tidal Peak in the coming months.
