traumahelikopter

For bands who have traveled thousands and thousands of miles, change is inevitable. Sometimes they ditch the guitars. Members come and go. Band vans become nightliners, fluorescent lights turn into floodlights... and vice versa. Ambition and fun can sometimes become two sides of the same coin.

In that respect, traumahelikopter remain headstrong in their bare essence. Over the past decade, the idiosyncratic trio from Groningen Noord has been leaning on the purest of foundations for being a band: friendship. Vocalist/guitarist Mark van der Ploeg, guitarist Daan van Dalen and drummer Roel van Berloo write songs that speak as much to the firebrands at the front of the pit as the introverted dreamers observing from the back.

These two extremes reconcile more potently than ever on fourth LP Save Yourself. This fresh collection of tunes breathes the same giddiness of traumahelikopter’s formative years. The group’s maturation and experience has added more sonic depth, imbuing that signature kinetic, free spirited energy with a wide range of musical inspirations.

First single “Sarah” echoes the swoon and swagger of new wave heavyweights The Jam, whereas “Please Don’t” employs the feverish shoegaze-antics of The Jesus & Mary Chain. traumahelikopter swerve to the pulse of The Nerves (“Before It Slips Away”) and channel the anthemic punk rock of The Wipers on furious Dutch-language closer “Geen Zon".