The History Of Colour TV - Highway Gothic (2018)

The History of Colour TV is a Berlin-based shoegaze outfit whose origins began in 2010 as a conceptual audio-visual project of musician Jaike Stambach. After self-releasing several experimental cassette-only EPs and accompanying videos, the project began to take on a fuller shape as Stambach brought in additional bandmembers to color his dreamy, darkly textured pop songs. Their first release as a group was 2011's Colour TV EP, which still incorporated some of the more abrasive ambient textures of Stambach's earlier solo work, but was far more anchored in song format. A deal with Texas-based indie Saint Marie Records was struck and they released their debut album, 2012's densely layered Emerald Cures Chic Ills. Stripping down their sound, while keeping it no less potent, they returned in June 2014 with When Shapes of Spilt Blood Spelt Love. ~ Timothy Monger