Eric Shoves Them In His Pockets

Somewhere inbetween the stop-start franticity of early Modest Mouse and the summery guitar tones of Real Estate, the brilliantly named Eric Shoves Them In His Pockets are one of Poland's best-kept indie secrets. Their debut album Walk It Off is all shimmering guitars laced with melancholy, the kind of music that's perfect for autumn walks or night time reflection. - Pigeons & Planes

Their debut album is a tribute to the guitar music of the turn of the century.

The Origins

Thun and Najder (both born in 1988) used to play together in the band Paula i Karol and therefore had a chance to tour Europe and the United States and to participate in recording sessions. In 2008 they were joined by their youngest member - Hubert Woźniakowski (born in 1991). In 2010, their song entitled Barbarians was selected to feature in a compilation by the popular music blog, We Are From Poland. In 2011, their single, Storms, was released in a compilation, Wszystko płynie, which acted as an illustration for an independent film entitled likewise. In the spring of 2013, they self-published a mini-album, Lay Down, and toured Germany, supporting Paula i Karol on their European tour.

Debut

Eventually, in 2013, Marek Siłownik, a producer and sound engineer saw Erics play at a private concert at their friends’ party. He initiated the process of publishing their debut full album and decided to take care of recording, mixing and mastering himself. By that means, in October 2013, their debut – Walk It Off – was published by Thin Man Records.
It is quite usual that a group of musicians starting a band has an idea of what and how they would like to play. With Erics, it was totally opposite – said Szymon Najder in the interview for Polish Radio 4 – We’ve been playing together for six years and the songs had got a bit ‘rotten’ by that time. We have had a few moments of inactivity, comings and goings... After all that time recording a full-length album became a matter of honour.
Their album is a sort of a tribute to the guitar music of the turn of the century but their music is good, even if taken out of context. It could serve as a soundtrack for a typical film from Sundance Festival: the story of a young man limited by his family and society looking for a way to escape provincial or suburban mediocrity. Among many inspirations, you can easily hear the inventors of neglectful guitar sounds, Pavement; masters of melody, Yo La Tengo; more rock-orientated Modest Mouse and almost jazzy Karate in Eric’s music.

When they sing altogether in You’re Not they are far from perfection: their rhythm may not be ‘one-millisecond-precise’ and their sound may not be tight but it makes their music sound real, natural. The recording is not over processed, over-polished – wrote Jacek Świąder for Culture.pl

Album Artwork

The artwork consists of series of photos of so called Warsaw bedrooms – huge districts of block of flats. In the pictures the concrete in contrasted with the lively green of trees and grass. There are no people.
It is a very local thing, but somehow, comprehensible to everybody – just like Eric Shoves Them in His Pocket's music – says Jacek Świąder.

Author: Jacek Świąder, Translated with edits by W.O. 25.II.2014.

Discography:

2013 – Lay Down EP
2013 – Walk It Off - culture.pl

Eric Shoves Them in His Pockets goes on a whimsical trip to the beach in their new video “Walk it Off.” The clip was directed by Jarek Tokarski, who you might remember as the director of the Warsaw-based trio’s “Storms” video. So prepare yourself for some serious, Wes Anderson-like action. Check out the clip below. The band’s debut album Walk it Off is out now. - Under The Radar