“HILLS N´ BACK” is the latest release by 8lanco, an outstanding Norwegian artist based in Bergen. It’s a collection of five catchy, memorable, engaging compositions that will immediately appeal to anyone who appreciates modern, cleverly assembled and flawlessly performed music. Heavily promoted with “Jetlag,” “Blow Out The Monitors,” “Actress,” and “Hell Of It,” four incredible tracks that will immediately convince you to check out this epic material, this EP carries everything you ever needed from modern music. 8lanco showcases his fascinating songwriting, composing, arranging, and producing abilities by implementing some of the finest properties borrowed from several complementary music genres. Perhaps indie pop comes to mind first, but you’ll unquestionably hear how some of the finest properties borrowed from indie rock, alternative pop, synth pop, dream pop, and other similar styles found their way into this sonic equation. The artist uses these additional sonic ingredients as more than necessary enhancements, accentuations, decorations, and other details to elevate his music to an entirely new level while simultaneously remaining loyal to the primary sonic direction. While 8lanco dominantly showcases qualities that meet all the trends in contemporary music production, you’ll also notice how he incorporates a subtle touch of nostalgia. If you pay close attention, you’ll hear some resemblances with eighties synth and dream pop, late nineties and early noughties indie, etc. Still, 8lanco’s music shines with all those modern, fresh, unique ideas and orchestrations, making him one of the finest contemporary indie pop artists nowadays. Lyrically, his music explores love, relationships, various sentiments, moods, situations, and circumstances, so “HILLS N´ BACK” is a highly relatable material that will immediately resonate with the broader auditorium. With lyrical and instrumental qualities like these, these compositions will appeal not only to longstanding indie pop fans but to anyone who appreciates high-quality music, written, composed, and performed with so much heart and soul.
This epic sonic journey commences with “Hell Of It,” a perfect introduction that vividly showcases what you might expect from the remainder of the EP. 8lanco’s soulful, passionate, sincere, confident, emotional, and powerful vocal performance elevates everything to new heights, commands attention, and guides the listening apparatus from scratch to finish. The impressive vocal range seamlessly balances low, mid, and high notes with such precision and finesse, emphasizing this profoundly creative artist intended to achieve with this track. Besides decorating all the segments and instrumentations, these vocal harmonies contribute emotional depth and complexity to an already intricate song structure. The synths and keys play a significant role in this sonic equation by shaping a perfect backdrop for all the vocals to shine upon. The beautiful leads, themes, melodies, harmonies, ambiances, and other sonic maneuvers uplift this composition to new heights. You’ll hear how the equally impressive rhythm section contributes groove and pace with all those profoundly details basslines and energetic beats. They make this song so cheerful, energetic, dynamic, and danceable. It forces you to move your body to those melodies and beats. “Blow Out The Monitors” continues at the same pace by almost instantly delivering another comprehensive collection of perfectly assembled instrumentations. Like the introductory piece, this composition carries all those qualities that make 8lanco’s music so engaging, addictive, hypnotic, and irresistible, but also showcases the creative genius of this brilliant Norwegian artist. It’s one of those songs where you can hear how much time and effort this singer-songwriter spent writing, composing, arranging, recording, and producing this incredible track. His effort paid off in another energetic composition that will immediately resonate with indie pop fans and beyond. 8lanco slows down the pace a little bit with “Actress,” and introduces elements of indie rock, skater rock, and pop punk into his music while retaining his recognizable indie-pop flair. The addition of flawlessly performed chord progressions and riffs and a touch of rawness, abrasiveness, and grittiness to the ambiance but the artist retains a highly recognizable sound. This track showcases 8lanco’s ability to craft music in almost every music genre he currently is thinking of, and “Actress” could easily pair with all those indie rock or pop-punk anthems you stumble on streaming platforms nowadays.
“Jetlag” is an exceptional synth-pop anthem, with a comprehensive collection of majestic synth harmonies, melodies, and themes resonating from scratch to finish. The artist also incorporated those energetic beats, breaks, fills, and other percussive acrobatics while the intricate basslines provide warmness, deepness, and heftiness to calm, soothing, relaxing, ethereal tracks. He also thought about vocal arrangements, so you’ll notice how the additional vocal layers, back vocals, and singalongs support is performance while adding an ear-appealing anthemic vibe. This epic sonic journey comes to an end with “Rehab,” a slow-paced indie pop song empowered with more tastefully distorted, expertly performed chord progressions and riffs. The moderate tempo complements these guitar works while the 8lanco’s incredible vocal performance adds vividly hearable emotion and depth. It’s a perfect closing track that will catch your attention. “HILLS N´ BACK” is an indie pop masterpiece, crafted and performed by a profoundly talented, brilliant artist. 8lanco demonstrates all his tools of the trade and an impressive sonic arsenal through these songs. Each composition is packed with sincere emotion and impressive musicianship, capable of convincing even the pickiest music enthusiasts to spin this excellent EP all over again. The artist stacked all his experience, knowledge, skills, and talent into this fine piece of sonic artistry, so you should immediately check out “HILLS N´ BACK” if you’re into perfectly produced indie pop music. The EP is available on all streaming platforms. Don’t miss it!
Thoughts Words Action 