Tidebound

Tidebound is a project firmly grounded in the concrete of Copenhagen, the soil that lies beneath and the waters that hold them in place. The hiatus of Black Wreath (funeral doom metal) and the otium of Chasing Eudaimonia / Eudaimonia Collective (psychedelic drone) has allowed Dave Müller to explore new musical directions. Unlike any other of Müller’s projects, Tidebound has its very roots in folk music, but the inspirations that paved the way for his other projects still shine through. These are songs of lost love and hope, distressful desolation, yearning for freedom and the acceptance of solitude; themes not uncommon to the folk genre, but the sometimes hazy vocals and the underlying psychedelic instrumentation give Tidebound a sound of its own. In other words: if Stephen Burch (The Great Park) and Townes Van Zandt went to the funeral of Jason Molina on their honeymoon and Aron was set to play at the wake, Tidebound would still be a psychedelic folk band from Copenhagen.

Müller has been active in the Danish underground music scene for years, but takes on the role of sole songwriter and vocalist for the first time, making Tidebound a highly personal project. The melodic nature of the songs and introspective lyrics evoke feelings that range somewhere between melancholy and pessimistic hopefulness. The instrumentation and vocals give the work an otherworldly feel, at times enhancing these moods to almost resemble mythological omens of impending doom or joyful reassurance of the possibility of finding salvation in the muddy waters of existence. Tidebound hereby raises the universal question that many of us ponder when the water refuses to thaw and the seasons refuse to change: what will be uncovered when the tides lay waste to the ocean and sweep the land: Atlantis or R’lyeh?