Alpine Decline

Starting off their career as an L.A. duo heavily indebted to eardrum-bruising noise rock and echo-damaged shoegaze, Alpine Decline took detours to China (where they lived for many years) and into synthesizer experiments (like 2015's INK) before reestablishing themselves as gently psychedelic jangle poppers on 2018's Return to Desolation Lake. By the time of 2021's For the Betterment of Well People, the duo had expanded to a full band and planted themselves closer to the singer/songwriter tradition than that of noise rock. Formed in 2010 by two ex-members of the L.A. group Mezzanine Owls, guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Zeitlin and drummer Pauline Zeitlin, Alpine Decline took a nostalgic approach to their sound that touched on noise rock, shoegaze and classic indie rock. Inspired heavily by Sonic Youth, they utilized that band's experimental nature and dynamic thrust, combining it with loads of echo and a classic verse/chorus songwriting style. The duo recorded three albums during 2010 -- Alpine Decline, Visualizations, and Disappearance -- that were very much of a noise rock piece, before moving to China. Once settled in Beijing, the pair resumed playing and recording. They shared a practice space with legendary post-punk musician Yang Haisong of the band PK14 and struck up a friendship that turned into a working relationship. With Haisong producing, Alpine Decline's next record, 2013's Night of the Long Knives, saw them expanding their approach with a more powerful sound and fuller arrangements. The trend continued on 2014's Go Big Shadow City, then in 2015 they released the synthesizer-based INK. It came about as the result of shows the band played where they traded their guitar and drums setup for synthesizers, echo pedals, and tapes. They went back to a more traditional setup with Haisong again producing and playing bass on their 2016 album Life's a Gasp, a lengthy song cycle about their relationship with urban China that contained some of their most straightforward-sounding indie rock songcraft to date. Around the time the album came out, the duo headed back to Los Angeles and resumed their lives in the city. Their first release once back was ironically mostly recorded in Taiwan, with the vocals tracked in L.A. 2017's Action Moves Away from the Center is another synthesizer-heavy album, a little less harsh than INK but still not exactly ambient. Alpine Decline shifted back to the usual setup in 2018, returning to Beijing to work again with Haisong on a batch of songs that were far calmer than anything they'd released previously. Dialing the echo down to a minimum, letting the guitars ring, and the vocals come through clearly, 2018's Return to Desolation Lake was a sonic departure that still retained the dreamy, almost hallucinatory aspect of their previous albums. It was a sound they explored further on 2021's For the Betterment of Well People. This time Haisong trekked to California and co-produced the album with Matthew Linesch; the duo captured a sound that was sweetly jangly and West Coast sunny with some gentle psychedelia and country-rock creeping in here and there. Along with the usual contributions from the Zeitlins, bassist Timothy Waldner, guitarist Colby Buddelmeyer, keyboardist Bobby Rodriguez, and percussionist Caitlin C. Mitchell joined in, as did Haisong, who added singing bowl to the mix. The team worked for 11 days straight to record and mix the album, the result being a slice of gentle indie pop that was a long way from the noisefests of their early work.
© Tim Sendra /TiVo