Denmark’s The Foreign Resort has been cited as one of the most dynamic post-punk and darkwave exports from their native country, and they are currently on their first Canadian tour, which started at Canadian Music Week in Toronto on April 20th, and ending on April 29th in Sudbury.
The band, which describes their sound as mix of new wave, post-punk and shoegaze, consists of singer/guitarist/songwriter Mikkel Borbjerg Jakobsen, bassist Steffan Petersen, and drummer Morten Hansen. The trio has often been compared to The Cure with a modern twist, and admit that Robert Smith’s material has been a huge influence.
“The Cure have always been something we listened to and of course inspiration will flow from that. But we get most of our inspiration from smaller bands, and a lot of the time bands that we play with. We are very lucky to have worked with many talented bands, such as New Canyons, NITE, PRGRM as well as larger acts like The Raveonettes and Minor Victories and most recently Montreal’s TRACES, who we played with just this week.” Said Jakobsen.
The foreign Resort in Brooklyn. Photo by Tenna Poulsen.
The band’s first album Offshore was released 2010 followed by the EP The Foreign Resort in 2011, which they describe as their biggest step that defined the band’s path they have taken artistically. Band’s third album New Frontiers came out in 2014.
“We set out to play shoegaze but always ended up with upbeat and energetic songs, which really is more post-punk, so we decided to follow this path and explore new boundaries of a very 80s music genre. We try to add more noise, energy and electronics and thereby renew the sound.” Jakobsen said.
The Foreign Resort are no stranger to North America, having toured in the U.S extensively for the past eight years. In 2015, the band released their fourth EP, The American Dream, which was a take on the American culture and society in general.
“The American Dream is our commentary to the great inequality in the failed society of the United States. A pseudo democracy run by corporations, treating the population like slaves. We know so many people, artists and fans, in the US who are suffering and scared. It’s an embarrassment for a rich so-called first world hi-tech country.” Said Jakobsen.
The Foreign Resort in Boise. Photo by Scott Vezina.
This time, the band decided to take a one year break from touring the U.S, and are enjoying their stay in Canada.
“We’re very happy to be in Canada! We had some good shows during Canadian Music Week and are currently exploring more of Canada on our first tour here. We’ve gotten to spend some extra time in Toronto, which we enjoyed a lot. It’s always a pleasure to get to know a place a little better than just arriving, playing and leaving.” Jakobsen said. “Touring Europe and North America is not that much different for us as we play mostly in Germany when touring Europe. The German and the North American audience are very similar in a very positive way. Very engaged, people are dancing and come up and talk to us before and after shows. We love that!”
The trio has just recently released a new single ‘She is Lost’ in connection with their Canadian tour, and is a very early teaser ahead of the band’s next full-length album which is potentially planned to be released in the spring 2018. Jakobsen says the writing process for the new album has been interesting.
“It’s hard to steer in a certain direction. We liked the raw post-punk sound of The American Dream and actually set out to make a full length in that vein. But once we started writing something else came out, and our current new material sounds more like the New Frontiers album than The American Dream. ‘She is Lost’ gives you a hint of what the album will sound like.” He said.
The Foreign Resort in Toronto. Photo by Melanie Smith.
After the Canadian tour, the band will be playing some selected shows in Europe in May, and are concentrating on writing and recording process in the summer in preparation for the new album. Canada will be hopefully seeing The Foreign Resort back on our soil again this fall.
You can still catch the band on April 27th at Phog Lounge in Windsor with Ethrelite and Foxhart Fishman, April 28th at Nightowl in Toronto, and April 29th at The Asulym in Sudbury.
The Foreign Resort’s discography, including the new single ‘She is Lost’ can be heard on Soundcloud. The band is also looking for fan videos on YouTube to make the official music video for the single.
Follow Foreign Resort on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
By Laura Collins
