Dogmatic Alcoholics

Image by: Album-cover to 421 Wythe Avenue

Alcoholic Faith Mission is the name of a Copenhagen duo who turned into a collective where friends were free to join to create the music. The universe is both singer-songwriter and electronic and their second album 421 Wythe Avenue has just been released. Critics have compared them with artists like American Bon Iver and Swedish José González. 

The sound consists of both melancholy and warmth and feels so nice and comfortable on a sunday where your head hurts. The song "Nut In Your Eye" is more up-tempo and easy going, but I have fallen just as much for "Guilty Scarred Eyes" where the male and female voices complement each other very well. But the song which instantly makes all my muscles relax and is better than any massage is "Theme From Ice Cream Products", which somebody should use in a film. 

Their second album is called 421 Wythe since it´s the name of the factory building in New York where Alcoholic Faith Mission recorded the whole album. The band made the dogmatic rule that everything they used for the recordings should be found within the factory loft which means that dictionaries have been used to create the sound of bass drums. 

I actually think that the strange dogma has contributed to a more rough and authentic sound and somehow I get an image of the loft in my head when I listen to the music. 

I guess Alcoholic Faith Mission works best under the influence of rules. On their first album, which was made in a small Copenhagen bedroom, the dogmas were that the recordings only could take place during night time, only in the light of candles and always under the influence of alcohol. 

I don´t think that the band has a recognizable Danish sound but instead it´s easy to hear the influence of both New York and also of the Canadian indie rock scene as for example Arcade Fire.