Münster Germany – Emo punk/hardcore outfit SHORELINE have announced their new album, and Pure Noise Records debut To Figure Out set for release on 23rd February 2024.
Deeply rooted in the DIY hardcore/punk scene, Shoreline gained a reputation as a rousing live band after countless shows in squats, rehearsal rooms and basement clubs all over the European continent, so that they quickly found themselves opening for scene legends like Basement, Silverstein, Spanish Love Songs or Hot Water Music.
Lead single Seoul is about reclaiming singer Hansol Seung‘s cultural heritage, buried beneath assimilation and insecurities as a young adult growing up in deep, rural, Bavaria, Germany. “Can you figure out how to get rid of the wish to be someone else?” he says, addressing his way of not only accepting, but embracing the fact that he looked and felt different through connecting with other Asian immigrants throughout Europe and the USA. The song is an extremely intimate story of accepting his skin colour and cultural identity, empowering and healing at the same time.
New album, To Figure Out continues to reflect on heavy political topics such as the climate crisis and animal rights but also touches very personal topics, difficult friendships and love songs. Produced by Chris Teti at Silverbullet Studios Burlington, CT (among others Anxious, Fiddlehead, The World is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die…) Shoreline not only seamlessly continue their musical originality, but also created their best-sounding record in their career.
Seung (singer) started his journey of self-awareness and empowerment as an Asian-german with the previous record, beginning with an angry bite back towards the racism he experienced growing up in Germany. With more and more BIPOC showing up at the bands shows, connecting with Asian kids all over the world and sharing experiences, Seung continues the process of self-acceptance and unlearning internalised stereotypes on the new record.
The record also features long-time friend of the band Chris Cresswell (The Flatliners, Hot Water Music) on the track Workaround, completing the sonic aesthetic of the project: respecting and paying tribute to the roots in classic punkrock, but also stepping forward into a new, modern take of the genre.
“There is this stereotype floating around saying the third record is the hardest one for a band, I read that saying a hundred times in interviews or magazines. I think I disagree. This feels like our first record, everything is new, exciting and fresh. To Figure Out is a collection of songs that all have one shared thought/recognition: everything is a process. I love how the topics on the record are so diverse, – there are songs about my journey of reclaiming my cultural heritage as a Korean-German, a lot of political anger and comments on the climate crisis and straight-up love songs.” says Seung.
The album artwork contains a poem which is a beautiful extension of the title:
YOU DON’T NEED TO HAVE AN IMMEDIATE SOLUTION
YOU HAVE TO FIGURE IT OUT
YOU WILL FIGURE IT OUT
Shoreline represent a young generation, one that cares and one that is ready to tackle the problems of today’s world.
