A cold eskimo is a kinky sex act involving a popsicle, but the band Cold Eskimo is something completely different. Their name is an odd contrast with the ethereal soundscapes that the band creates in their songs. Their music has been described as Baroque Pop, a term which they embrace, as guitarist Nick Bear put it, “It represents our approach to writing music. Instead of a vocalist, guitarist, bass player, and a drummer, we are all wannabe composers pulling all kinds of different instruments in order to make these songs interesting and different.”
The band itself is based around the long-term relationship between the singer Rachelle Martin and the aforementioned Nick Bear who started dating four years ago and knew from the beginning that they wanted to make music together. However, besides sound bites and incomplete ideas, they didn’t get far until they decided to book a show to motivate their writing. At that point they brought in Gary Bladen, who helped them finish and perform their songs and is now the band’s bassist. The three of them played together for fun, passing the time and just generally enjoying themselves. The response to their work was positive and soon they were offered opportunities to record and tour. It was then that the band “began to think that we would begin to take this seriously and making an honest effort to put out an album and tour outside of our immediate area.” So they took on Julian Loy as a drummer and started work on what would become their debut album, Glass Beach.
To write their debut album, the band decided to “take a trip somewhere beautiful so we could seclude ourselves and focus on writing as a group”. That place turned out to be Mendocino, a seaside town upstate of Sacramento, which was full of sentimental memories for Cold Eskimo. The album was so influenced by the region that they named it and a third of the songs on it after various places in the region.
Glass Beach was released in July of last year and the band has been touring around Northern California ever since. They will be playing the Ace of Spades this coming Tuesday (the 19th) at 7 pm along with Desario and The Mowgli’s. They will be planning another trip to seclusion in a few months and a new album to debut sometime next year.
To learn more about Cold Eskimo visit them on Facebook or Tumbler
And to get a glimpse of the album Glass Beach visit Soundcloud
Words compliments of Katta Hules
Photos compliments of Kaitlin Jean