Anders Hagström – SIDE-LINE

Ashbury Heights presents new album, ‘Ghost House Sessions – Vol. 1’, featuring 25 tracks

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 07:22:07 +0000

Out on August 9th via Out of Line is the all new album from Swedish electro/synth-pop act Ashbury Heights, “Ghost House Sessions – Vol. 1”. “Ghost House Sessions – Vol. 1” is the band’s first new album since 2018’s “The Victorian Wallflowers”.

The new longplayer contains 25 tracks of which 15 will be also available on a limited edition ‘glow in the dark’ double vinyl and 25 on a double CD including 10 bonus tracks which are previously released digital only singles.

The album also contains a number of collaborations with singers and projects such as Massive Ego, Ulrike Goldmann (Blutengel), Corlyx, Madil Hardis, Alia Synesthesia and others.

“The past years have been incredibly inspiring. There have been incredible highs and devastating lows. That roller coaster is now being shaped into music”, says the band’s founder Anders Hagström.

Check out the video for “Ghosts Electric” below, followed by “Wild Eyes“.

About Ashbury Heights

Ashbury Heights is a Swedish electronic music duo from Sundsvall, Medelpad, and formed in 2005. The original lineup consisted of Anders Hagström (vocals, songwriting, music, and programming) and Yasmine Uhlin (vocals). Uhlin left after their EP “Morning Star in a Black Car” and was replaced by Kari Berg, who featured on their album “Take Cair Paramour” in 2010. The band faced a temporary disbandment due to disputes with their label, Out of Line, but reformed in 2011 with Hagström and a new vocalist, Tea F. Thimé.

Ashbury Heights’ sound is characterized by a mix of synthpop, futurepop, and electropop. Their discography includes several studio albums, such as “Three Cheers for the Newlydeads” (2007), “The Looking Glass Society” (2015), and “The Victorian Wallflowers” (2018).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Ashbury Heights – The Victorian Wallpapers (CD Album – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 20 Nov 2018 20:30:01 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop, indie-pop.

Background/Info: Swedish duo Anders Hagström – Tea F. Thimé are back on track unleashing the fourth full length album from their sonic brainchild Ashbury Heights. They got a helping hand in the production process by Mario Rühlicke (Blutengel).

Content: Ashbury Heights remains inspired by electro-pop music although I experienced this opus as touching ground with indie-pop. The songs are pretty dance-like, mainly characterized by happy-pop tunes and carrying –and sometimes techno-driven, choruses. The female vocals remain a quite noticeable element, but there still is a sweet harmony with the male backings.

+ + + : Tea F. Thimé remains one of the main strengths from this band. She has a powerful and alluring timbre of voice, which really put her stamp on this band. Sound-wise I experienced this work as the most ‘happy’-sounding ones in the band’s discography. But the main- and most noticeable evolution is the global sound production. Ashbury Heights has reached an ultra professional level.

– – – : I always have liked Ashbury Heights because they bring a more personal electro-pop style. But this new opus sounds now and then a bit too ‘commercial’ or ‘dance’-like. The choruses are cool, but on a few tracks it clearly sounds a bit ‘teenager’-like.

Conclusion: I’m missing the magic from previous releases. Ashbury Heights remain to me a great and talented band, but this new opus can’t fully satisfy me.

Best songs: “Headlights”, “Waiting For The Fall”, “Firebird”.

Rate: (7).

Artist: www .facebook .com /ashbury .heights

Label: www .outofline .de / www .facebook .com /outoflinelabel

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Ashbury Heights return with new album after 3 years: ‘The Victorian Wallflowers’

Bernard - Side-Line Staff — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 07:01:19 +0000

Three years after “The Looking Glass Society”, the Swedish electro-pop duo Ashbury Heights returns with “The Victorian Wallflowers”. The band nowadays consists of Anders Hagström and Tea F. Thimé.

The album itself was produced by Mario Rühlicke (Blutengel) and will be out on CD for which pre-orders are available now. Musically the band continues their electropop line as we are used from them.

Ashbury Heights formed in 2005 and consisted originally of Anders Hagström and Yasmine Uhlin on vocals. Uhlin left the band after the release of their EP “Morning Star in a Black Car”, and was replaced by Kari Berg (vocals) as the lead female vocalist. Berg was a member of Ashbury Heights until 2010 and was featured on one album, “Take Cair Paramour”.

In 2010, following a long-running dispute between Hagström and the Out of Line label, the band disbanded. The dispute was settled in 2011, whereupon Hagström and Out of Line renewed their collaboration. In 2013, Tea F. Thimé (vocals and lyrics) joined the band as the new vocalist, coming from a background of alternative modelling and burlesque performance (going by the stage name Tea Time).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

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Ashbury Heights – The Looking Glass Society (CD Album – Out Of Line)

Inferno Sound Diaries — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 11:03:03 +0000

Genre/Influences: Electro-pop. Content: I’m really pleased with the 3rd full length album by Swedish electro-pop duo Ashbury Heights. It also is their first album in 5 years. Anders Hagström and Yasmine Uhlin went through hard times and especially Anders had to face several losses. Sound-wise Ashbury Heights remain rather faithful to their well-crafted and efficient electro-pop sound. I always have loved this band for their great writing and production skills, which is an essential element that hasn’t changed. The work reflects maturity and the secret formula from ‘how to compose great pop music’. I now and then can hear some passages reminding me of Depeche Mode, but it’s more in the details. Globally speaking this album is carried by an own electro-pop sound, which is mixing elements of dance-music, a few technoid arrangements and some irresistible vintage-like electronic ideas. Most of the tracks are excellent stuff for dancefloors. A last essential element, which even makes the magic of the band, consists of the vocal production featuring Tea Thimé who replaced Yasmine Uhlin. There’s a perfect alternation and symbiosis between male and female vocals. They’re really complementary while adding a nice sexy touch (especially the half spoken passages) to the work. Both members are in perfect fusion with each other. “The Looking Glass Society” was inspired by the work and fascination of the band for Lewis Caroll. It’s an interesting source of inspiration reflecting some magic universe although a song like “Ghost Spirit Mother” reveals a deeper and more intimate lyrical content. This song is a poignant testimony of a son who has lost his mother and an artistic expression of Anders to remember his mother who passed away. But this album first of all is a nice collection of alluring songs. “Phantasmagoria” and “Left Off At Seven” both are potential hits while the work also reveals multiple cool songs. Ashbury Heights has this knowledge to create songs, which directly catch your attention for their efficient sound sculptures and exploding choruses. Conclusion: Ashbury Heights strikes back with grace and probably with their most intimate and successful work to date. Best songs: “Phantasmagoria”, “Left Off At Seven”, “Gravitational Man”, “Starlight”, “Piano”. Rate: (DP:8½)DP. Band: www.facebook.com/ashbury.heights Label: www.outofline.de / www.facebook.com/outoflinelabel

Read the news on ‘The Looking Glass Society’.

Inferno Sound Diaries