Where the Wild Things Are' starts off with some of the most “pop” songs they've ever recorded, typified in the sweet and melodramatic “Arcana”, and the classic pop inspired “Time Travel”. Like Sendak's book of the same name, the album then proceeds into stranger and stranger territory, resulting in some of the most experimental material Death and Vanilla have produced, such as the six minute “Something Unknown You Need to Know” and the machine-like, surf-guitar track “The Hidden Reverse”.
Formed in Malmö, Sweden by Marleen Nilsson and Anders Hansson, Death and
Vanilla utilise vintage musical equipment such as vibraphone, organ, mellotron,
tremolo guitar and moog, to emulate the sounds of 60s/70s soundtracks, library
music, German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psych. They revel in the
warmth of older analogue instruments to create a more organic sound, each loose
wire and off-kilter noise adding to the rich atmosphere.
After a handful of successful releases including a debut EP in 2010, their
self-titled LP in 2012 – which sold out on pre-order – and a beautifully
designed 7" single, the experimental pop duo were invited to compose a live
soundtrack for the classic horror film, Vampyr (1932), for the Lund Fantastisk
Film festival in Lund. Now, newly signed to Fire, the band return with ‘To
Where The Wild Things Are.’ Named after the Maurice Sendak children's book,
the album is comprised of pop music with a wild, dreamy and experimental edge,
celebrating imagination and the ability to travel to stranger recesses of
the mind.