The Vantages, who have been making the music business and fans around the world buzz since their first releases, released their eponymous second EP on September 5th, The Vantages II. The band’s frontman Tim Mikkola’s tunes were finalized at the legendary Abbey Road with Stefan Brown, who has already become a friend of the band. The mixing was done by Mauri Syrjälä and Patrik Tuominen at Suomenlinna Studio.
Tim ended up working with the Abbey Road gang after Stefan spotted The Vantages on Instagram.
“I happened to be in London with my girlfriend at the time, so we ended up visiting the studio and discussing the mastering of the upcoming EP. Stefan did a really great job, we will continue to collaborate in the future,” says Mikkola.
The band, who opened the mood of the new EP with the single Darker released earlier this year, continues the themes of the band’s debut EP, and the now released album also serves as a conclusion to a certain period.
“The Vantages II is a transitional piece that continues the theme of the previous EP, but instead of passively self-destructive, it rejects it. I struggled with severe depression while making the EP, and I feel that some of that was definitely reflected in the lyrics. It was a bit of a letdown, because I ended up writing some of the most hopeful lyrics I’ve ever written, for example in the song Love/Loss, which I dedicated to my girlfriend,” Tim recalls.
The single Automata, released from the EP, has drawn inspiration from 90s cyberpunk anime, and the band has also experimented with a variety of other things along the way, some of which will certainly live on into the future.
“Vocaloid is a central element in the chorus of Automata, and the fourth track Vanishing Point is again an instrumental over five minutes long, with dialogue in Japanese and English, and instrumentally, the whole range is covered, from drum n’ bass to Arctic Monkeys.”
“We were chasing something brighter and more modern. Tape machines changed to bitcrushers and vox continentals to the digital sins of the past. I wanted a certain kind of anime for the EP’s soundscape, I listened to a lot of Japanese bands like L’Arc~En~Ciel and the soundtracks of old Japanese Playstation 1 games,” Mikkola adds.
The Vantages are:
Tim Mikkola, vocals
Anton Froloff, guitar
Aleksi Larkovuo, bass
Henri Schröter, drums