The Donnybrook Writing Academy

What’s cooler than an indie record label that puts out great music? One that gives it away for free.

German internet magazine Komakino started an online label that distributes full releases through their site. As their founders put it:

The aim… is to initiate change. This is why we offer every release as a free download, including artwork. Just pretend it’s “real.” Because that’s what it is. And time will prove us right.

Eerie’s self-titled EP is what recently brought the label to my attention. The project of Sweden’s Eric Obo (along with assistance from his friends), Eerie performs songs that are large in scale and atmospheric in texture. Without ever quite treading into the ethereal territories of shoegaze or space-rock, the tracks on Eerie hint at the overlapping melodic constitution that makes those genres so compelling.

Obo has a doleful, unaffected voice that carries these four songs, but it is his attention to composition and the interplay of the parts within the gestalt that gives rise to their luminosity. In short, it is a release with no miscues–an outstanding record whose only fault is its brevity.

Give a listen to the first track, “Daybreakers,” below, then head over to the Komakino site to download the whole thing. Did we mention it’s free?

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