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Tiger Lou
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 07-Jul-08 @ 12:01 PM
HQ: Stockholm, SwedenNOW PLAYING: The Loyal (EYEBALL; eyeballrecords.com) THE STORY SO FAR: Ovulation was only the beginning. No, this isn't the story of how Rasmus Kellerman--the man behind Tiger Lou--came to exist. Ovulation is the demo tape that an 11-year-old Kellerman created with a friend as Womb while immersing themselves in the moody synth of Skinny Puppy and Depeche Mode. After a rough band breakup, Kellerman took a vacation from writing. "I just kind of lost all interest in doing music," he says. Four years into his hiatus, he recorded several acoustic tracks and let a friend release them as a 7-inch under the name Tiger Lou. WHY YOU SHOULD KNOW 'EM: After a string of singles and EPs, Tiger Lou's latest, The Loyal, bubbles with hopeful melancholy, retro-fused, jangly guitar lines and muted vocals. Songs like "Nixon" are up-tempo but hint at heartbreak through dreary soundscapes. It makes sense that Kellerman--who hooked up stateside with Eyeball Records and embarked with Kiss Kiss and Baumer on the Eyeball Awareness Tour--doesn't lean too heavily on vocals. "I listen to techno and the soundtrack to [The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford composed by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis]," he says. Perhaps the nagging sense of loss in Tiger Lou's music stems from Kellerman's knowledge that what he creates inevitably has to leave him. "I mainly like writing the songs and recording them," he says. "The release party is like a wake for me." --Kelly Delaney YOU LIKE? YOU'LL LIKE: JUNIUS / NEW ORDER / BAND OF HORSES |
