Emo punk/hardcore outfit Shoreline have announced their new album, and Pure Noise Records debut ’To Figure Out’ set for release on February 23rd, 2024. Deeply rooted in the DIY hardcore/punk scene, Shoreline gained a reputation as a rousing live band after countless shows in squats, rehearsal rooms and basement clubs all over the European continent, so they quickly found themselves opening for scene legends like Basement, Silverstein, Spanish Love Songs or Hot Water Music.
The lead single ’Seoul’ is about reclaiming singer Hansol Seung’s cultural heritage, buried beneath assimilation and insecurities as a young adult growing up in deep, rural, Bavaria, Germany. “Can you figure out how to get rid of the wish to be someone else?” he says, addressing his way of not only accepting, but embracing the fact that he looked and felt different through connecting with other Asian immigrants throughout Europe and the USA. The song is an extremely intimate story of accepting his skin colour and cultural identity, empowering and healing at the same time.
New album ’To Figure Out’ continues to reflect on heavy political topics such as the climate crisis and animal rights but also touches very personal topics, difficult friendships and love songs. Produced by Chris Teti at Silverbullet Studios Burlington, CT (among others Anxious, Fiddlehead, The World is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die…) band not only seamlessly continued their musical originality, but also created their best-sounding record in their career.
Seung started his journey of self-awareness and empowerment as an Asian-German with the previous record, beginning with an angry bite back towards the racism he experienced growing up in Germany. With more and more BIPOC showing up at the bands shows, connecting with Asian kids all over the world and sharing experiences, singer continues the process of self-acceptance and unlearning internalized stereotypes on the new record. It also features long-time friend of the band Chris Cresswell (The Flatliners, Hot Water Music) on the track ’Workaround’, completing the sonic aesthetic of the project: respecting and paying tribute to the roots in classic punk rock, but also stepping forward into a new, modern take of the genre.
“There is this stereotype floating around saying the third record is the hardest one for a band, I read that saying a hundred times in interviews or magazines. I think I disagree. This feels like our first record, everything is new, exciting and fresh. New album is a collection of songs that all have one shared thought/recognition: everything is a process. I love how the topics on the record are so diverse, – there are songs about my journey of reclaiming my cultural heritage as a Korean-German, a lot of political anger and comments on the climate crisis and straight-up love songs.” says Seung.
’To Figure Out’ tracklist:
01. Needles
02. Darius
03. Workaround
04. Seoul
05. Health
06. Reviver
07. Green Paint
08. Yuppie Kids
09. Pen Name
10. Don’t Feed
11. Loose Contacts
12. Interlude
13. Cold Feet