It’s been just over a year since the debut LP from SEER GROUP, a collaborative electronic pop project headed up by Jason Rozen of the Grinding Tapes record label. And it’s been nearly as long since he and his 10 or so collaborators, including North Carlina’s Elijah Wyman, have hit the stage together.
But that all could change soon, as Rozen revealed today he’s working on a follow-up to 2012’s synthpop masterpiece Owlpine. The new record is titled Polar Scare and is set for release this fall.
Rozen admits its difficult to get all the Seer Group contributors together for a proper live show, but tells us he promised his longtime pal Wyman that they’ll hit the stage in October or November to celebrate Polar Scare’s release. Seer Group’s lone gig was June 6 of last year at the Middle East, with Wyman’s Decent Lovers also on the bill.
While Owlpine had a laid-back vibe, Rozen says Polar Scare is more upbeat. One of the demos, “Love Me Back,” has a Drive soundtrack feel to it. And it features the vocal talents of Eleni Castro, who sung on some of the best tracks (notably “Wounded Animal”) of the last release.
“We’re going for straight-ahead dance tunes for this one,” Rozen tells Vanyaland. “I’m trying to make them as catchy as possible. I’ve think I have all the instrumentals done and it’s just a matter of finishing up the vocals. There’s also going to be a rap song on it (‘Punches’), which is kind of a crossover from my inside joke synthpop-rap group called BZ Pedestrian.”
To tide us over, Seer Group passed along to Vanyaland their new remix of Fey Rey’s “Don’t Be Scared,” a folk track Rozen worked on in 2011 with Larua Smith Wilson from Fey Rey and the Woodrow Wilsons. It’s even got Rozen adding some hip-hop flavor into the mix.
“She asked me to make a dance remix of a Fey Rey song for her birthday, so I started working on this kind of as a joke, but I really like how it came out,” Rozen says. “It’s about as dancey and poppy as anything I’ve ever done.”