Static Motor Recordings

Kowloon

/

The Longwalls

Release Date:
12-04-2012
Catalog #:
SMR016

Buy:

Format(s):
CD / Digital

other download options

Live video. Kind words. Alan represents The Longwalls at Outlaw Roadshow 2016 this past fall in NYC.

Well ain't this a hum-dinger! Alan opens up with "Sargasso in Space" off The Longwalls' classic 2012 EP, Careers in Science; follows it up with a tease from the band's forthcoming 6th release with (soon-to-be-blistering) "Red Shirts;" slows things down with "Rukia" from 2015's Gold Standard; and then closes things out going way back to 2010's "Playwrights" off the Dark Academy EP. Good on ya, Alan!! All that and some very kind accompanying words from our pal Ryan's Smashing Life! He writes: One of the East Coast's best sounds / Sneaky Good! - Alan and the band play dark pop songs influenced by cultural tides, historical figures and social ephemera and this set was no different. The Longwalls last two full-length albums, The Gold Standard and Kowloon are two sides of the same study of coins - demonstrating just how good they really are. This January, The Longwalls dropped a live album you need to hear (here!)More News >

These songs soar and crash with astonishing grace… The power is unmistakable.
Aiding & Abetting

The Longwalls evoke wintry discontent and hope springing eternal within the walls of their latest album, Kowloon… a lovely novella of an album.
The Owl Mag

The Longwalls have created a solid album that treats melancholy with a bit of twang, a pinch of grunge and a ton of heart.
mxdwn

The Longwalls capture the sound of a dusty repetitious highway and the lonely poetic spirit of adventure.
Mojophenia

At once unsettling, melancholic, and peaceful. Indeed, as the listener reaches the final track a feeling of tranquility has already been delivered.
Boston Music Vibe

Their honest folk music involved a lot of depth.
Golden Mixtape

A mix of guitar twang and noise pop.
Indies and the Underground

Maybe it’s growing up, maybe its early onset seasonal affective disorder, but on Kowloon, guitars fuzz, vocals reverb ever so slightly, and the songs can take a bit more of an introspective feel. Sonically, it is a sharp sound that sounds like a great direction for the band.
Music Savage

The Longwalls excel at mixing dissonance and tension in with hummable melodies. In that regard, they live somewhere between a more rustic Velvet Underground and a less new-post-punk the National.
The Noise (scroll)

Boston rock band The Longwalls wrote an entire EP inspired by Kowloon, the area from Hong Kong where I am from. Their inspiration came from way way back when Kowloon was a walled city. How they managed to do that, I don’t know.
Panic Manual

The band masterfully blends traditional folk instruments and music with a modern style of synth usage, sound modulation, and atmospheric noise dynamics that is really quite impressive and pleasing to the ears.
Red Line Roots

This collection of songs should be enjoyed by a wide audience. I hope the Longwalls are discovered outside of their New England home base.
Twangville

 

In Hong Kong there was once a walled city, Kowloon. An ungoverned 6-acre city within a city, home to 33,000 people. Urban density and decay in overdrive. A crush of tiny apartments. Trash and running water in the streets. Rare pools of light. Yet life maintained. Amidst the darkness and back-alley operators. Against the cold stone, ash, and dust. An embodiment of the unplanned and unchecked, a mix of pessimism and isolationism, a Kowloon can grow within the mind before you know it. Twenty teetering stories of paralyzing uncertainty walled off from rational thought. Kowloon was eventually demolished; a peaceful park of scenic gardens quietly rest in its place. Life maintains. Kowloon is The Longwalls' 3rd release in as many years. It was recorded entirely on their own in their rehearsal space and home studios.

Tracks

  1. Vaasa
  2. Big MT
  3. Long for Shipwrecks
  4. Liberty Bell
  5. Woods Pretty
  6. Kowloon
  7. Maybe Golden
  8. Bring me Peace

Credits

Alan Wuorinen – vocals, acoustic guitar, upright bass, pedal steel, synths
Kurt von Stetten – drums, cello, hand percussion, synths, backing vocals
Dan London – bass, acoustic guitar, mandolin, backing vocals (lead on “Bring me Peace”)
Brandon Comstock – electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, synths, backing vocals (lead on “Shipwrecks” and “Woods Pretty”)

Songs by Alan (BMI); “Shipwrecks” and “Woods Pretty” by Brandon (BMI); “Bring me Peace” by Dan (SESAC).
Music by The Longwalls.

Produced & Enginnered by Kurt von Stetten and The Longwalls at Arlington Music Studios and the Beat Dojo
Mixed by Owen Curtin with Marly Carre at Bridge Sound and Stage
Mastered by Eric Baird at Half Son of Audio
Design by Alex Budnitz

The Longwalls evoke wintry discontent and hope springing eternal within the walls of their latest album, Kowloon... a lovely novella of an album.

Listen:

Watch: