DETAILS
TRACKS
Side A
- Copenhagen One
- Manchester Two
- Manchester One
- Vienna Five
Side B
- Brussels One
- Copenhagen Five
- Munich Six
- Berlin One
- Munich Seven
RELEASE DATE
01/22/2021
• Full-length ambient record by Death Cab For Cutie guitarist.
• Pressed on a limited edition of 300 light blue vinyl LPs
Dave Depper is the quintessential Portland sideman. OPB has claimed “there are musicians in Portland who seem like they’ve played with everyone. And then there’s Dave Depper.” And according to the Portland Mercury, “If you have a band in Portland, he’s probably standing behind you right now holding a bass guitar.”
These days, Dave is perhaps best known for being the guitarist, keyboardist, and backing vocalist for iconic indie rockers Death Cab for Cutie (appearing on their well-received records Thank You for Today and The Blue EP). In addition to his work with Death Cab, Dave has collaborated live or in the studio with such luminaries as Robyn Hitchcock, Sharon Van Etten, Ray LaMontagne, Fruit Bats, Mirah, Laura Gibson, and countless others.
When not busy with these outfits, Dave has quietly built up a diverse portfolio of solo work. In 2011 Dave turned heads when he meticulously covered Paul McCartney’s 1971 solo masterpiece Ram, note for note, alone in his spare bedroom (The Ram Project). 2017 saw the release of his first proper solo record of original music, the acclaimed synthpop opus Emotional Freedom Technique, as well as his first foray into ambient music, the EP Utrecht Suite.
But to catch up with Europa, we need to rewind back to the autumn of 2015.As any touring musician knows, an inordinate amount of a typical day on the road is spent simply waiting around in the venue. There’s nothing specific to do, but one can’t really leave, either. Over the course of a whole tour, this dead time can add up to hours and hours of wasted existence, the boredom alleviated only by mindless gazing at phones and snacking on the rider food in the dressing room.
In the autumn of 2015, Dave found himself on tour with Death Cab in Europe. Having spent nearly the entirety of the past two years on the road, this growing void of lost time was weighing heavily on him. He wondered: was it possible to use these empty intervals for something productive?So he came up with a plan: every day, no matter where he was, or how motivated he felt to do it, he would spend that time improvising on his guitar and recording it until it was time to soundcheck with the band.
Over the course of three weeks, drawing influence from the pioneering tape loop experiments of Robert Fripp and Brian Eno, Dave would dutifully set up his equipment each day and record whatever came to mind for 30 to 60 minutes. By the time he returned home to Oregon, he’d amassed over ten hours of material, all performed live on a single electric guitar, and from this Europa emerged.
For a collection of instrumental music, the material is surprisingly evocative of the surroundings in which it was recorded: the optimism of a crisp, sunny day in Copenhagen, the ominousness of a gloomy, cold afternoon in gritty Berlin, and the genial bustle of cosmopolitan Brussels all manage to subtly emerge from the speakers - rewarding close attention, yet simultaneously serving as a soothing soundtrack to a peaceful night in with a good book, as the best ambient music does.
Mixed in Berlin on analog equipment by Francesco Donadello (Jóhann Jóhannsson, Thom Yorke, A Winged Victory for the Sullen), Europa is a swirling, meditative, and dreamy reflection on how the power of place can influence art. In a time when it seems that we are more isolated and homebound than ever before, it’s a nice reminder that music still has the power to transport listeners far beyond the physical confines that have been imposed upon us.
EXPLORE

Adam Selzer
Slow Decay

Hallelujah The Hills
Against Electricity

José Medeles
Art of Slowness: The Halfling Session

Old Unconscious
Sunfort

Motrik
"33"

Christian Kiefer
What You Have Come For Is Death

Boxhead Ensemble
The Unseen Hand: Music For Documentary Film

Hook & Anchor
Hook & Anchor

The Valiant Arms
Swallow The Sea: The Songs of The Crabs

Carcrashlander
A Plan To Tell The Future

Alialujah Choir
The Alialujah Choir

Slow Moses
Charity Binge

Scirocco
Walk To The Moon

Perhapst
Perhapst

The Born Losers
The Born Losers

The Maroons
You're Gonna Ruin Everything

Norfolk & Western
Centralia

Dave Depper
Utrecht Suite

Matthew Hattie Hein
In Search of Lost Hein

No. 2
What Does Good Luck Bring?

Nick Jaina
A Bird In The Opera House

Boxhead Ensemble
Electric Guitar

Kpants
Smile And Nod Accordingly

Eyelids
Slow It Goes

Arch Cape
Arch Cape

Hallelujah The Hills
No One Knows What Happens Next

Annalisa Tornfelt & Gideon Freudmann
Unraveling

Martha Scanlan
The Shape of Things Gone Missing, The Shape of Things To Come

The Hackles
The Twilight's Calling It Quits

Eyelids
Maybe More

Martha Scanlan
The River and The Light

Team Dresch
Team Dresch Bundles

Team Dresch
Team Dresch "Husband" T

Old Unconscious
Lyle

Eyelids
Jay Gonzalez Sings Eyelids Sings Jay Gonzalez Sings Eyelids

Defective AI
A Book Of Coherent Warnings

Marisa Anderson & Tara Jane O'Neil
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To

No. 2
You Might Be Right

Team Dresch
Choices, Chances, Changes: Singles & Comptracks 1994-2000

Longstocking
Once Upon A Time Called Now

Infinite X's
Infinite X's

Chainsaw Records
Chainsaw Records Bundle

Chainsaw Records
Chainsaw Records T Shirt

Candy-Ass Records
Candy-Ass Records Hoodie

Red Red Meat
Red Red Meat T

José Medeles
Railroad Cadences & Melancholic Anthems

No. 2
First Love

Martha Scanlan & Jon Neufeld
Last Stars First Light
