Figurines "When The Deer Wore Blue"

Artist: Figurines
Album: When The Deer Wore Blue
Label: Morningside
Release date: 23 July 2007
Genre: Rock
Style: Indie Rock

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Tracklisting:
01. Childhood Verse
02. The Air We Breathe
03. Hey, Girl
04. Drove You Miles
05. Let's Head Out
06. Good Old Friends
07. Drunkard's Dream
08. Half Awake, Half Aware
09. Angels Of The Bayou
10. Bee Dee
11. Cheap Place To Spend The Night
12. Lips Of The Soldier
13. Untitled
Total running time: 48' 10"

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[Figurines - Open MySpace Standalone Music Player]

"Having your band compared to Built To Spill, Modest Mouse and The Shins all in one breath might seem like an extraordinary compliment to most, but for Denmark's Figurines, the never-ending association to American groups is getting tiresome.

Singer/guitarist Christian Hjelm has said in the past that while he and his bandmates have heard of Built To Spill and their ilk, they're not really fans. Figurines, he insists, are inspired by another era altogether.

"I can definitely hear some '60s stuff in it," Hjelm says of his band's fuzzy pop. "What we did on Skeleton [their second disc and the first to make it to North America], a lot of that was '60s stuff. But then again, it's mixed with other genres."

Intent on making a statement that proves they have their own sound, Figurines have crafted a new disc, When The Deer Wore Blue, that marks both a refining of their pop sensibilities and a departure from their previous albums.

"If you compare the new album to Skeleton, Skeleton is more a bunch of genres mixed together," Hjelm says in explaining his band's fresh direction. "You have a folk song and suddenly there's this up-tempo punk song.

"I guess we just wanted to make a more relaxed, groovy, good-feel album. We wanted to create a very organic record, and we think we succeeded in that."

To achieve their new sound, Figurines incorporated a vast number of instruments into the usual guitar-bass-drums formula, including harp, harpsichord, glockenspiel, organ and banjo. It makes for an obviously lush soundscape, but one that might not find its way on to mainstream radio on this side of the ocean. Hjelm reveals, however, that quite the opposite is happening in his native country.

"I would say that we're quite popular. We were just on the front page of the biggest magazine over here. Denmark is a small country — only five million people. The famous bands here in Denmark sell around 50,000 albums. That's the mainstream stuff. A lot of people definitely know us and at the moment we get a lot of airplay."

Figurines' burgeoning notoriety caught the eye of public officials and they were awarded funding by ROSA (The Danish Rock Council) last year. The unexpected support helped the band tour North America.

For now, Figurines don't have any confirmed touring plans for 2007, but they expect they'll make it to Canada in the fall to support their new disc. They have a handful of dates scheduled in Europe, but Hjelm says that the band have plenty of everyday concerns that keep them occupied.

"As any other band, we enjoy visiting other countries. But the last seven months we haven't really been playing — only abroad, and we don't make very much money by doing that. So, right now, we have jobs."" [source]

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