Being the Fritch of Simesky+Fritch I couldn’t with good ego go and write a review. But I can say it’s out now, and it’s been out for a while, and I really should posted this earlier!

So what is this if not a review?
I could put out the press release. Boring!
I could give you the band bio. Yaaaawn.

How about we call it a little info and some quick backstage backchat with few nuggets and morsels of intrigue… a little background to the life of the album.

So Hey Will, what’s SKALA.02?
Well I’m glad I thought of you asking me. It’s feels like a capture of time. If that’s not too much of a navel-gaze answer. Myself and Alex (Simesky) had a batch of songs ready amongst a stockpile of 20+ demos and it felt like a natural pause. These were the songs of the nervous times, the strange times, back when showing each other new ideas could be the start or end of a song or even a song writing partnership. There was the danger it could go either way before we built up in synergy and confidence. All these songs are from that inertia.

OK, but what’s with the title?
So this is where we slide nerd and dirty… In the hope it’s a geek kind of cool. ‘Skala’ was the system that integrated digital and human signals (or was meant to) in the plant we all know as Chernobyl. That disaster was almost an ultimate, and it’s something ingrained in us both. But the intent of that system, it struck us. It’s something close to how we write and create. We depended on machines to be human.

Alex knows sine waves and synth sounds and programming like some kind of digi-god guru. And I sully his work and carefully made sonics with organic sounds, vocals and feeling. Sometime for worse or for better. As we made music without meeting for over a year via clouds and home studios and old tech, we depended on machines to create. Maybe between us we’re some type of SKALA.  

Is that what the ‘140.15’ is? I’ve seen it on the cassette and the artwork...

You got a good eye for a rookie.
Consider it an act of public service.  

It’s starting to feel like you’ve got a thing for secrets…
Hidden codecs, hints in titles, oh for sure! Would you be surprised to find out to that there’s more? And not just secrets, it’s a love for old formats. The 33rpm remixes that gave 80’s vinyls their B-sides, the hidden tracks on CDs, it’s a love for those trends that come and go. Who doesn’t love a little intrigue and mystery? I hear there’s a new track on the cassette if you play side two long enough, just don’t ask me what it says if played backwards.

P.S. Did you know that if you watch the OG Godzilla backwards it’s a heart-warming tale of a giant lizard re-building Tokyo and going back to the sea without thanks?

And where can we find this almost mythical cassette?
We can ship from EU and UK and there’s not a whole load of them left. You can find them right here on the Bandcamp store

Or for a Spotify fix, see below.

Welcome to ‘SKALA.02’.