Ambient post-rock trio Pedestrian Lifestyle from Thunder Bay, Ontario shares their latest set of dreamy tunes in their new 2-track EP, Nocturnal Sea.
Pedestrian Lifestyle is guitarist and vocalist Josh Talakoski, bassist Leif Peltonen, and drummer Dylan Maxwell. Formed in 2008, their sound is influenced by acts like Radiohead, Warpaint, U2, Foals, and many more. Together, they create lush, dreamy, and introspective alt-rock that speaks on death, isolation, nostalgia, and feeling lost.
The trio brings these introspective themes to life in their latest EP, Nocturnal Sea. It's an incredibly chilling yet refreshing listening experience that merges traditional rock rhythms with contemporary production to create a sound entirely of its own.
The project opens with the intro and title track, "Nocturnal Sea," melting our speakers with soft vocal samples and a melodic electric guitar alongside crisp hi-hats and Talakoski's breathy vocals.
As Pedestrian Lifestyle lays the soothing and gentle sonic foundation, they gradually ramp up the energy and anticipation that resembles the sensations of being locked in a lonesome dream. They later smash our speakers with vibrant and rich alternative rock instrumentals to bring the song to its climax while reminding us that navigating life on your own is no easy feat.
A similar reflective theme continues in the second and outro track, "Sunlight," which peacefully opens with gentle electric guitar melodies, sweet percussion, and Talakoski's fluid vocals. We appreciate how Pedestrian Lifestyle merges alternative rock with modern electronic elements to create this lush and euphoric listening experience.
Peltonen's rhythmic bassline and Maxwell's dynamic drums keep the soul alive while Talakoski sings of trying to hold onto something beneficial and not let failure hold him back. It's a bright, dreamy, and introspective tune that closes the project with relatable emotion that knows no bounds.
We invite you to dive into the dreamy and dazzling world of Pedestrian Lifestyle's deeply reflective 2-track EP, Nocturnal Sea, now available on all digital streaming platforms.
Welcome to BuzzMusic, Pedestrian Lifestyle. We're truly in awe of the dreamy and lush sounds within your recent EP, Nocturnal Sea. What experiences or moments inspired your group to create this pensive EP?
I think the inspiration for this EP was to just create something for the sake of creating something. We worked on this early on in the pandemic, and the mindset was to just put something out there. At one point in time, we weren't sure if shows were actually going to be a thing we'd be able to do for a while, so the idea was to just make something as a means to continue creating and moving our band in a forward direction.
Could you break down your band's creative process between members when formulating the instrumentals for Nocturnal Sea? What did that process look like?
In terms of creating the actual EP, the title track 'Nocturnal Sea' had existed for a while. I (Josh) had written that song all in one shot very late one night, which represented my writing process at the time of just only feeling inspired at later hours of the evening or just feeling like my brain was only fully turned on at night. That whole idealism was kind of the building block for the themes of the song itself. Everything was kind of all mapped out aside from vocal melodies and lyrics. But I presented it to the other two guys in the band, and collectively we made it into what you hear now, more or less. It was then honed in a live context by having it in our set for shows for quite some time before we went to record it, and that polished it up to its final form. As for the others, those were much more studio songs. The song 'Sunlight' was us building a song from the ground up. A part would get made, and then someone else would come in, add something to it, and so on and so forth. We kind of put that one together like some weird puzzle with no real road map or idea of what it was going to sound like in the end. There's a sense of excitement doing it that way. When you finally get to hear what it sounds like and you're pleasantly surprised by the end product. The recorded version of 'Nocturnal Sea' sounded exactly the way we all imagined in our heads, and 'Sunlight' was more of an experimental process that took us down a few different roads and let us explore some new sounds. The acoustic half, which is available on the physical version of the EP, was also a nice little way for us to explore. It gave us the opportunity to showcase ourselves in a more stripped-down manner and not lean back on our comfort zone of big noisy guitars and loud drums. Those songs were more delicate to work on, and we really had to think about those ones a lot because of their stripped-down nature of them.
What common themes do the two songs on Nocturnal Sea share? Why did you want these songs featured together on their own project?
I think we felt like 'Nocturnal Sea' and 'Sunlight' would compliment each other in the end. They are both stepping into a bigger territory sonically for us while still maintaining the sound that is our band. 'Nocturnal Sea' focuses on the clarity that the night can bring in the sense of feeling like your mind is fully awake to process things to the full extent, but also the pitfall that can bring by getting caught up in your own head, too much and losing yourself in that space. While the song 'Sunlight' is driven more by positivity and hopefulness, finding that thing that keeps you going and gives your life meaning. There's a bit of a yin and yang quality with them. We kind of intended 'Sunlight' to be more of a glorified B-side for this release, but in the end, we consider these two songs both Aside pairings and a good fit with each other.
What was the most rewarding part about creating Nocturnal Sea? What did you appreciate most from experience?
It may sound a little cliche, but just being able to create and put it out there was the most rewarding part. With all the uncertainty going on in the world with pandemic-related things and whatnot, at one point in time, it was hard to see if doing music could actually still be a thing with all the changes and restrictions. So being able to just continue making music was a reward for us. That being said, there is still a great sense of pride for this release. We really feel like these songs hold their own and represent us fully as a band.
Did you want listeners to pick up on any themes or concepts from the EP Nocturnal Sea? What do you hope the project does for listeners?
I think for us, we always like to leave the door open for people to find their own meaning and interpretation of music. There's a certain amount of excitement when someone can discover their own meaning that doesn't directly relate to what it might be for us. Music is meant to be shared, and when you spend all this time creating it, when you eventually put it out there into the world, it almost becomes not yours anymore, if that makes sense. It's now out there for everyone else to absorb in whatever way they see fit.
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