Instrumenti
Crystalline art-pop featuring soaring falsettos and lush, Icelandic-influenced electronics. Grand, theatrical, and deeply melodic music for wide-open spaces.
Crystalline art-pop featuring soaring falsettos and lush, Icelandic-influenced electronics. Grand, theatrical, and deeply melodic music for wide-open spaces.
Instrumenti sounds like the intersection of a high-tech laboratory and a centuries-old cathedral. Their music is built on a foundation of pristine electronic production, but it is constantly elevated by the human element: specifically, Jānis Šipkēvics's extraordinary falsetto and the duo's penchant for rich, choral-style vocal harmonies. It is music that feels both weightless and immense, capturing the shimmering clarity of Northern European landscapes.
What truly sets them apart is their academic pedigree. Because the founding members are classically trained, their pop songs possess a structural complexity and harmonic depth that most indie acts lack. They aren't afraid of grand gestures, often building tracks from quiet, intimate synth pulses into massive, cinematic crescendos that feel designed to fill stadiums. There is a sense of playfulness and theatricality in their work that keeps the experimental edges from ever feeling cold or detached.
Start with their debut album TRU if you want to hear the quintessential 'Greenhouse Studios' sound: a perfect blend of organic warmth and digital precision. For a more mature, expansive experience that showcases their evolution as Baltic cultural icons, dive into Cilvēks. It is the sound of a band that has mastered the art of making the avant-garde feel like a celebration.
Instrumenti are an Electronic Indie Pop music band from Latvia, Riga, originally formed by two academically educated musicians Jānis Šipkēvics (Shipsea) and Reinis Sējāns. In 2014, band's producer Gatis Zaķis became full member. During the years various musicians and visual artists from Latvia, Sweden, Finland, France and Iceland at some point have called themselves Instrumenti members. Instrumenti, a two-piece electro indie pop band, has proven to be amongst the best Baltic live acts of the decade. The band published their first single "Life Jacket Under Your Seat" in summer 2008, which immediately caught attention of Latvian radio stations. However, the group was officially formed only in 2009. Shipsi (vocals/keyboards) has one of the most impressive falsettos today's music has to offer while Reynsi (drums/ keyboards/vocals) has a genuine talent of creating incredibly rich and warm sound backed up with beautiful harmonies. Instrumenti sound has been described as a mix of Muse, Sigur Rós and Michael Jackson. In August 2011 Instrumenti released their debut album TRU recorded at the Greenhouse studios in Reykjavik, collaborating with producers and arrangers who've worked on most of Sigur Rós, Björk and Jónsi's records. Being one of the most sought-after Baltic acts, Instrumenti have played the biggest venues in the Baltic states and have taken part in numerous festivals and showcases all over Europe (Germany, Austria, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Poland, UK, France, Belgium, Czech Republic etc.) - SXSW, The Great Escape Festival, Eurosonic Noorderslag, Heineken Opener, Positivus Festival, Rock For People, Waves Vienna, Tallinn Music Week among others. What makes Instrumenti captivating is the duo's natural wit, charisma, creativity and skills that allow them to delicately blend different styles and genres, creating an enjoyable aural and visual adventure. In 2013, Instrumenti participated in a number of European festivals, playing alongside Friendly Fires, Keane, The Vaccines, Hurts and Skrillex among others.
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, chamber pop, electropop (subgenres)
Shares art pop, electropop, chamber pop (subgenres); layered dense, studio polished, orchestral arrangement (production style)
Shares art pop, electropop, chamber pop (subgenres); layered dense, studio polished, orchestral arrangement (production style)
Shares art pop, electropop, indie pop (subgenres); layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style)
Shares art pop, electropop, indie pop (subgenres); layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style)
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, indie pop, chamber pop (subgenres)
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, indie pop, chamber pop (subgenres)
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, indie pop, chamber pop (subgenres)
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, indie pop, chamber pop (subgenres)
Shares layered dense, analog warmth, studio polished (production style); art pop, indie pop, chamber pop (subgenres)
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