Keeping up with Charmless i

It is about time for the next chapter in the exciting story called ‘Charmless i’. The journey of the band so far has led through a string of number 1 positions in several Dutch Indie Charts and a lot of international attention on social media. This next chapter is called Botox, which as such is the first single released from the forthcoming second E.P. called ‘Next Level’.

Frontman Alex, who is very much committed to his fellow artists, is hence a dedicated follower of the international entertainment news. With regards to the lyrics of Botox he was slightly, and in a tongue-in-cheek manner influenced by an article he once read about socialite Kim Kardashian. In this article some serious speculations are brought forward about the alleged cosmetical interventions Kim underwent, because of the obvious physical changes in that part of her physique.

The musical birth of the track happened when Alex was once slightly bored and therefore started to randomly push the buttons of his old Roland TR-808 drum machine. The rhythmic foundation of the track was swiftly found and was later on complemented by the firm acoustic drum sound of Bart, which has led to a pleasant combination of electronic and organic drumsounds. What else is defining for the sound of the track is the use of an analogue Korg synth bass, which is combined with the pulsating sound which Auke whacks out of his Precision Bass. The catchy guitar riff that squirms around three octaves, with which newest band member Rutger almost tortures his Telecaster, makes Botox the first track to which the entire final line up of the band contributes. This truly pushes Charmless i’s band sound to the next level.

The production process of Botox is similar to that of all the tracks which ended up on the first E.P. ‘First Coming’. All string instruments were recorded at Alex’ kitchen table, the electronics and vocals were done in the attic of his home and the drums were once again recorded in Studio GieSound in the Dutch city of Zwolle. In the very same studio Guido Aalbers went loose and applied his renown ‘mixing madness’ on the track. Mastering was again done by Andy Vendette in New York. Because you should never change a winning team. You just add more talent to it.

Botox is released this week on BERT music (a division of TCBYML), and available for purchase/streaming on all known digital platforms