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Jun 06, 2013 By Austin Trunick Web Exclusive

Seabed, the full-length debut from London-based trio Vondelpark, slickly melds dance grooves, sample-heavy guitar pop, and sweet R&B-influenced vocals for a sound that’s remarkably difficult to place in any one genre or era. Although just in his early 20s, Lewis Rainsbury already has a lengthy history with his bandmates: singer/producer Rainsbury, guitarist/bassist Alex Bailey, and keyboardist Matt Law have been friends and playing music together since they were teenagers.

“We just sort of felt the need to make music, really,” says Rainsbury, explaining his band’s genesis. “We’d always sort of been around our instruments; it never seemed much like we were starting a band. We were just a group of friends. We had always done things together over the years, so we all decided at one point to make a record.”

The three have made music under various names and incarnations throughout the years, but Vondelpark is the project with which they’ve put out three buzzworthy releases. Their first two EPs, released in 2010 and 2011, featured a more guitar-heavy rock sound than that of their debut full-length.

“We used to listen to New Order a lot, Kraftwerk,” he recounts. “We were kind of confused by electronic music, as much as we loved it. That was really interesting for us, we were these kids who were playing guitars and listening to electronic music. We had this idea, back when we were 14. We had a song project back then using an electronic drum machine. To us, it was a bit of an experiment. We always wanted to make dance music, but we didn’t know how we were going to achieve it seeing as we were depressed, guitar, mopey boys, essentially.”

Though electronic music may have baffled them in their early years, the trio has found ways to embrace an R&B, dance music-influenced sound, heavy on samples and meditative lyrics.

“Moving forward, it’s more a bass guitar sound, drum machine, and piano, that’s basically where it’s going to go,” he says. “I think there’s lots you can do with those three instruments. I’ve learned in the last few years that less is more, really.”

Seabed runs together into one long, groovy, melancholy jam. There’s a watery theme that runs through the record, from its aqueous production—smoothly produced by Rainsbury himself—to the cover art and song titles. This theme springs out of a very bleak moment in the band’s recent history.

“I think it’s important for our releases to have a theme, just to have a reference point for ourselves,” he says. “It sort of captures the moment of time when the record is made. Seabed is kind of our reply to what was a very depressing situation for us. We’d gotten our car completely smashed up when we were playing a show in Amsterdam. We’d had our album stolen from us, from my laptop. My hard drive was stolen, along with quite a lot of ideas. We were actually making quite an upbeat record, and that basically hit us really hard.”

That negative energy is channeled into the sometimes forlorn-sounding Seabed, but it isn’t the only emotional theme they work into the music. They also draw from their experience as musicians and fans on the fringe of a musical scene.

“We were trying to capture the mood of a lot of 21- and 22-year-olds in London,” Rainsbury says. “Although on the surface there’s a massive scene of electronic music going on, there’s also a lot of people that are just zoning out at home and listening to records all the time. That’s the particular mood we’re trying to capture, trying to broadcast that sort of feeling that’s hopefully universal to other places, not just London. Songs about not really enjoying aspects of the night life, but also wanting to be part of a scene.”

Despite their negative experience being robbed in Amsterdam, the band has stuck with the name Vondelpark, which was taken from a large park in that city. The moniker reflects their music in more ways than one.

“We used to visit Amsterdam quite a lot,” he explains. “Holland has this really great aesthetic, as a place. There seems to be a very nice relationship between nature and people there, a good balance. Even when you’re right in the center of Amsterdam, with the church, and the red light district, the canals. It’s so hectic, but also peaceful. We wanted to make that kind of overly cluttered music that’s also kind of tranquil.”

After a short pause, Rainsbury finally cops to the band loving the Dutch city for more than just its public parks system.

“We smoked a lot of weed growing up, and we wanted to make a kind of stoner record,” he says, and laughs. “So we thought ‘Vondelpark’ for the project. If you have a joint and listen to any of our records, they make much more sense. I really can’t understate that.”

Vondelpark’s debut album, Seabed, is out now on R&S. (www.vondelparkmusic.com)