The Foreign Resort

Artist Information

Biography

Sonically expressive, dark and moody, catchy and up-beat are words to describe this Danish Nu Gaze/Noise-pop foursome.

Since 2006, hailing from Copenhagen, The Foreign Resort has intricately balanced an international sound with songs that instill contradictory feelings of melancholy and bliss. The band takes the audience on a journey through passages of textured layers with haunting and dreamy vocals, to echoes and pulsations of overdriven guitars, powerful drumming, driving bass, and intense thematic melodic lines. The end result is an aural rollercoaster of emotional intensity.

In November 2011, The Foreign Resort released their sophomore, self-titled EP in Europe on afmusic and in the US on Monolathe Recordings. From the moody and emotional “Heart Breaks Down” to the sonic assault in “Orange Glow” and the upbeat, fan- favorite “Take a Walk” - this EP clearly showcases their influences of growing up listening to the likes of Joy Division, The Cure, NIN, and My Bloody Valentine.

The group describes this EP as a large leap in growth as a band and in their sound. “All the touring in support of Offshore really brought us closer as a band. It created such a bond and shared energy that it drove us to push harder. We feel the EP really captures the direction we wanted to be musically and whoweare–andthatiswhywefeltwe had to call it, The Foreign Resort”, says front-man Mikkel Jakobsen.

On Sept 11, 2012 they will release Scattered & Buried - a collection of remixes by Sway and Novachild, re- makes of previously unreleased material, as well as a couple new tracks.

Since 2010, the band has been rigorous in booking over 85 shows – with most of them in the US. This enabled them to develop a wider fan base, as well as becoming part of New York’s burgeoning noise pop scene – evident through rotation, interviews, and live performances at 87.7 WNYZ, 91.5 WNYE, East Village Radio, and BreakThru TV

Other international bands have also welcomed them on their tours such as, A Place to Bury Strangers and Swervedriver. In December 2011, they were handpicked by The Raveonettes as supporting act on their tour of Denmark. Currently, the band is gearing up for a 15- show, bi-coastal tour of America in March 2012 – including an official showcase at SXSW.

Instrumentation

Mikkel B: Jakobsen - Vocals, Guitar
Henrik Fischlein - Guitar
Morten Hansen - Drums, Vocal
Patrick Ryming - Bass

Discography

The 5-track self titled EP was released in Denmark October 3rd 2011 and in North America November 8th 2011 on Texas based Monolathe Recordings - also distributed in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.

“Take a Walk” is currently in rotation on several radio stations across the US and Europe –
and heavy rotation on Denmark’s national radio channel, DR P3 & P6 BEAT.

'Colleen' and 'Take a Walk' feature on the soundtrack for the documentary 'Dressed' about a New York fashion designer released June 14th 2011.

The latest single 'Colleen' was released February 28th with the b-side 'Heart Breaks Down' both songs from the forthcoming EP to be released in the fall of 2011.

The single 'Orange Glow' was released April 6th 2010 and includes a remix of the album track 'Opening Act'.

The Foreign Resort's debut album 'Offshore' was released February 20th 2009. The vinyl-only release is distributed by Labelkollektivet in Denmark, in Italy by Black Nutria Independent Label and from in the United States by San Francisco-based Three Ring Records.

'Offshore' is also available worldwide as download on various online stores like iTunes and CDON.

The Foreign Resort's second single 'Lost My Way' is currently played on several Italian radio stations while the first single 'The Starlit Sea' is aired on Danish national radio and German radio NDR.
The video for 'The Starlit Sea' was released in October and is currently in rotation on Italian music television channels.

Links

• Facebook
• Twitter
• Last.fm
• MySpace
• Bandcamp
• Soundcloud
• Youtube

Audio

• Take a Walk
  Listen  
• Colleen
  Listen  
• Heart Breaks Down
  Listen  
• Orange Glow
  Listen  
• The Starlit Sea
  Listen  

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• The Foreign Resort – Shoegazer-Wolves on Patrol [+ Show ]
  

  Exerpt: “a cold-blooded, solid and brutal crowbar of an ep that really should pan doors for The F...Exerpt:
  
  “a cold-blooded, solid and brutal crowbar of an ep that really should pan doors for The Foreign Resort. They will surely grow big and black.”
  
  Rated 5 of 6

• Album Review: The Foreign Resort – The Foreign Resort EP [+ Show ]
  

  The Foreign Resort aren’t likely to be a featured hotel destination on Expedia any time soon, but if...The Foreign Resort aren’t likely to be a featured hotel destination on Expedia any time soon, but if you’re into the heavily distorted and tortured howls of Joy Division and My Bloody Valentine, you may want to book a date with this Danish four-piece’s self-titled EP. They were also among the latest bands announced for South by Southwest in March, so you could always go see them in Austin. (Good luck finding accommodations for that week though.)
  As for the five tracks that make up this EP, “Colleen” is a love cry about a broken heart “never healing quite like it used to/and never feeling quite like before.” It has a relentless, almost archetypical post-punk pace to it that you could probably pass off as a U2 song castoff from the very early 80s. “Orange Glow” is where things start to get murky. The opening sounds like a synthesized “Iron Man”, but then breaks out of its shell after about a minute. Electronica meets shoegazing head on in this song, with neither side emerging victorious, and everyone’s ears are bleeding a little by the end.
  
  All throughout the EP, singer Mikkel Jakobsen’s voice is clear, crisp, and remarkably calm. He’s no Ian Curtis imitator, that’s for sure, even when the tempo shifts somewhat on “Heart Breaks Down”, which is slower to the point of being trancelike, and definitely eerie. There is also a much better balance than the previous song in terms of instruments competing against one another– putting up a “wall of sound” as it were. “Take a Walk” is about as cheery as these melancholic Danes get: it even has a good dance beat to it, but Jakobsen has to remind us that his band is moody and angry when he curses, “It was all too fucking good”.
  
  Finally, the seven-minute-plus “Torch It” flickers out more than burn brightly, but just because it’s a tad meandering shouldn’t take away from the fact there’s some really good, loud stuff here that nu gaze fans of M83 and The Pains of Being Pure at Heart should enjoy.
  
  Essential Tracks: “Colleen”, “Take a Walk

• Good Holiday Resort [+ Show ]
  

  Having read that The Foreign Resort had "Tears For Fears-ish melodies" on the PR blurb that came wit...Having read that The Foreign Resort had "Tears For Fears-ish melodies" on the PR blurb that came with the EP, I was not expecting this self-titled EP to be anything special. How wrong could you get, quite simply it is 5 tracks of pure bliss.
  
  Don't worry, we are not about to start championing pop bands from the 80's, "The Foreign Resort" is shoegaze with a hint of post rock thrown in for good measure. It certainly should appeal to fans of A Place To Bury Strangers, Sonic Youth and fellow Scandinavians, The Megaphonic Thrift.
  
  All five tracks are vibrant and each with their own feel but one thing they all have in common is that they grab you by the proverbials right from the opening bars of 'Colleen' and don't let go all the way to the end of 'Torch It'. 'Orange Glow' deserves a special mention for its dark hard hitting atmospheric edginess.
  
  It is a shame that for a band that comes from just over the North Sea, it appears they have yet to play on these shores, yet have made it across the Atlantic on a few occasions. Let's hope that soon changes as their sound is one that will be adored right here.

• Gotham Was Not Built in a Day [+ Show ]
  

  Exerpt: “An EP can hardly get more whole than this. It has taken The Foreign Resort very long to ...Exerpt:
  
  “An EP can hardly get more whole than this. It has taken The Foreign Resort very long to get such a refined sound. But it has been worth the wait.”
  
  Rated 92 of 100

• GAFFA Review - Spot Festival, May 22, 2010 [+ Show ]
  

  "The Cure embedded in noise with Tears For Fears-ish melodies and the energy burst of Joy Division. ..."The Cure embedded in noise with Tears For Fears-ish melodies and the energy burst of Joy Division. And that is as close as it gets because The Foreign Resort sounded like themselves."
  
  "...the fantastic energy of the band driven forth by an animal of a drummer, a pumping bass and echoing, distorted and noisy feedback guitars...".
  
  "...The Foreign Resort (had) atypical song structures that time and time again went contrary to expectations and made one smile."
  

• Vinyl Debut with Grandiose and International Sound [+ Show ]
  

  A distorted guitar swept in hypnotic reverb strikes the tone. A dark vocal enters the soundscape t...
  A distorted guitar swept in hypnotic reverb strikes the tone. A dark vocal enters the soundscape to the beat of a hi-hat that strangely almost runs in offbeat. But The Foreign Resort does not play for fun. The opening song The Starlit Sea is a dark, grandiose song, sounding as if one’s life is at stake. Offshore is something as rare as a Danish debut only released on vinyl and conceived in collaboration with the Copenhagen vinyl store Smukstoj. On Into the Sunshine there is still no light in sight. The excellent singer Mikkel Borbjerg Jakobsen’s desperate vocal is swept in enveloped in a monotonous keyboard surface and a hard galloping bass line sending your thoughts towards Joy Division. The Foreign Resort has with great international sound carefully measured the balance between the high waving and the fragile. In spite of the inspiration from Afghan Whigs and Interpol the band manages to challenge the listener with sharp guitar contrasts and demonstrative tempo changes. The Foreign Resort go the distance on Offshore, which is a fantastic challenge to these mp3-times.
  
  Finn P. Madsen/Gaffa Magazine
  
  Translated from Danish.

• Grandiose and Top Competent Danish Debut [+ Show ]
  

  The Foreign Resort is a startling experience. A Danish debut band entering the Danish rock scene w...
  The Foreign Resort is a startling experience. A Danish debut band entering the Danish rock scene with a power that blows your mind. The genre is British new wave - somewhere between The Cure and British Sea Power - and surrounded by the many bands who inspired and have been inspired by the above-mentioned.
  
  The threads to The Cure are at times so obvious that some might crinkle their nose. The brass infected "Towards the Dusk" is one of these but the song simply works so good that I - despite the reservation of comparison - cannot help but becoming carried along.
  
  The room has a high ceiling. The production and the arrangements are gigantic in their massive and airy rock sound and at the same time the singer Mikkel Borbjerg Jakobsen has adequate strength, fragility, grandiosity and fervour in his vocal, and this makes the expression utterly strong.
  
  The album cooperation has snuck past everything in the established Danish business and Offshore is released on vinyl in cooperation with the vinyl store Smukstoj. A somehow a distinctive character of no importance to a band that has everything it takes to let the music speak. But let's leave that be - the most important thing in this connection is that it has been made possible for The Foreign Resort to make their music available to the surrounding world.
  
  "Lost My Way" and "Relax (It's Only Love)" are two of my favorites but if one has a preference for British rock music, one should not miss this awesome debut. It is expressively, well done, meaningful and spell-binding. I am full of admiration. And puzzled that the Danish music press has not hyped this band intensely. An absolute candidate for Debut of the Year.
  
  -Morten Wamsle, diskant.dk
  
  Translated from Danish.

• Three Italian Album Reviews [+ Show ]
  

  We got some good reviews in Italian magazines. Unfortunately I can only guess what has been written...We got some good reviews in Italian magazines.
  Unfortunately I can only guess what has been written as my Italian is as good as non-existent. Silvia from our Italian label Black Nutria informed about the reviews.
  Thanks goes out to her.
  
  To read the reviews, follow the links:
  
  Beat Bop a Lula - http://www.beatbopalula.it/musica-underground-emergenti-band/articolo.asp?articolo=108
  
  The Ship Magazine - http://www.theshipmagazine.com/the-foreign-resort---offshore.htm
  
  Rockon.it - http://www.rockon.it/recensioni/indie-rock/3308-the-foreign-resort-offshore/

• Soundvenue Selected [+ Show ]
  

  “Dark moods with details lurking in the shadows and an undeniable international touch”. The song ’T...“Dark moods with details lurking in the shadows and an undeniable international touch”.
  The song ’The Starlit Sea’ was described as
  ”...ready for the big venues with the effective stabbing guitars and the slowly, but intense development towards a roaring mix of noise and unique melodies.”

Setlist

Basic Requirements

Calendar