The Familiar’s music often sounds ominous, but nothing bad really ever happens. Just the glow of slow-burning embers softly illuminating the darkness. Out this week, their debut full-length album “Shelter” is itself a long-form crescendo. Starting with the dark and brooding “Spectre”, the record slowly unfolds into the light culminating with the ethereal release of the lead single, “Everything”.
The song’s vivid imagery romanticizes life in a remote, frigid landscape where the complications of city life are rendered numb by the cold:
Rawest simple things
Bread, water, muse
Magical and undefined
Sparkling the faint daylight
Simpler here
Phone frozen unused
Watching bus headlights
Trained on snowy hues
Since their chance encounter above the Arctic Circle in Norway, the transatlantic duo has taken their time to meticulously craft their music exactly the way they want it. Ruth Mirsky’s sultry vocals provide a perfect complement to the dark, pulsating synthesizers and cinematic orchestral elements of Tromsø-born producer Mads Martinsen. This release follows two independent EPs and numerous syncs including spots with HP Enterprise/Virgin Racing, Six Scents Parfums, and features in the Norweigan drama “Unge Lovende”.
