Tan Cologne - Unknown Beyond bio
Tan Cologne, the enigmatic New Mexico-based duo of Lauren Green and Marissa Macias, prepare for the release of their third studio album ‘Unknown Beyond’ this Spring via Labrador Records.
Where the band’s previous work was rooted in terrestrial and earthen landscapes, ‘Unknown Beyond’ reaches instead for the skies and the intangible - greater existence, the infinite and the unexplainable. An album that embraces timeless uncertainty.
Tan Cologne released their debut album ‘Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico’ in 2020, exploring the topography of cultures and subcultures on the surface of New Mexico. Inspired by past, present and future water and waterways, their second album, ‘Earth Visions of Water Spaces’ followed in September 2022, embodying the power of water and how it has shaped our planet. Meanwhile, their 2023 release ‘Pescetrullo (soundscapes)’ captured a series of on-site instrumental and field recordings made in the remote architectural installation Pescetrullo in Puglia, immortalizing the contrasts of ancient buildings, new bold structures, insects, and lapping water of the surrounding environment.
Written from the depths of perspectives shifting through deep life changes and loss, however, ‘Unknown Beyond’, seeks a more spiritual process. It’s a cerebral record that echoes and shimmers with realms of the unseen, borderlands, and supernatural connection. “We looked for signs and signals during the recording process” they say. “If we saw a shooting star, imagined a fire burning on a hill, or remembered an old satellite dish in someone’s yard, we explored that lyrically. Those visual guides became our pathways to the album. They were the signs to move forward.”
Written, performed and recorded alone at the duo’s home in in Taos, Northern New Mexico, the album found Tan Cologne seeking solitude and retreat as they came to terms with personal loss of family, friends and childhood homes all within the same timeline. It became a therapeutic outlet for grieving, dealing, changing and understanding new horizons of life and ways of being, each track a part of the story of the album.
Celestial opening track “Cool Star” swoons and billows, as the band sing of seeing a shooting star and believing you can communicate with the beyond. “You are the dreamer” is a serene instrumental track written as a message, named after a custom decal sticker that was on the back of the window of a dear friend's car. “She recently passed away, and her car was sold and then unknowingly used as the getaway car during an arson event of our local ice skating rink in Taos” the band explain. “The song feels like a continuation of an odd and mind-bending conversation, and that feels like her.”
The ethereal melancholy of “Angels” was written as the LA fires burned and the duo experienced another round of change and loss as spaces they intimately knew, loved, and walked were burning, the emotion conveyed amidst fuzzing guitars. “We imagined and lyrically wrote about both the absence and presence of angels” they comment.
Elsewhere, “Eyelids” is connected to an astrologer in Taos, whose show the band follow with devotion – “it is a song about human embodiment as a cosmic cycle.” “Open to Communication” is about receiving messages from invisible forms and “In Resin” lyrically encapsulates the entire album thematically, talking about being everything once and then being it all again, living several lives at the same time.
Stylistically, ‘Unknown Beyond’ finds the band changing up the concepts and familiar instrumentation of previous albums, moving away from the Americana-style sounds of their previous work and swapping lap steel for electronics and incorporating drum machine for the first time.
Interweaving and layering hypnotic beats, hazy textures, abstract live drums, and sounds of searching for signals of comfort and communication from the invisible web, on their third album Tan Cologne present an immersive and emotive album. An intimate and generous-spirited album of coping, surrender and acceptance, and a talisman for times to come.
This year Tan Cologne will be travelling to support Trentemøller on a European tour (May 2025) as well as completing an artist residency in Marfa, Texas and more live performances. Details below.