The new album The Flood Inside from German band Long Distance Calling is coming out in two weeks and at the same time the band is going on a European tour. Before the kick-off there are two try out shows and tonight’s one is located in Helmond, The Netherlands. In two sets of roughly an hour each, old material is mixed with new songs, some of them even have vocals. Yes you read it right, the instrumental band has a vocalist nowadays.

 

In the beginning of the first set we have to wait for the vocals. That’s no problem because the instrumental postrock with progressive elements has a lot to discover. Due to the killer riffs that return on the right moment and the fact Long Distance Calling actually makes complete songs you don’t need any vocals. They prove that directly with the track ‘Black Paper Planes’, you know that song with the killer riff you can’t get out of your head. When you look to the guys on stage they are happy to finally play again after being locked up in the studio (I don’t hope for too long!). It’s always nice to see when musicians are motivated! A small comment for the new drummer is he still can work on his timing in the fills and breaks so the songs will flow and groove more as they supposed to do.

 

Finally the time is right for a new song with vocals. As a surprise the synthesizer player is the vocalist and he does his clean vocal job in the right way. His addition is not too much (comparable to the few old songs when Long Distance Calling worked with guest musicians) so the atmospheric vibe in the music still has enough room to breathe. In the next song his vocals are more present and that’s killing the vibe a bit. We are not watching a poppy rock band, guys!

 

With playing older songs of the previous three albums they get back the attention. After a short break it’s remarkable the new drummer puts off his headphones on certain songs and at that moment his playing is much groovier. We are almost reaching the end of the second set with another beast of a song from the album Avoid the Light.

 

Sometimes there is something going wrong with starting off a song but that’s just funny and fits the easy going vibe on stage. Long Distance Calling proves they can keep the attention for two hours and with the great track ‘Fire in the Mountain’ (the first song they’ve written!) they end the set. I really can say I was with my head in the clouds during the timeless and groovy sets. Not every band in this genre can say that!