"Very Powerful, Very Dark": A Conversation With Manchester's COAST NOIR

Manchester based COAST NOIR [photo: Coast Noir]

Dark, brooding, and cinematic, COAST NOIR have spent the best part of this year crafting their sound and image, equal parts industrial and haunting, aggressive and ethereal.

September saw the release of the band's debut EP "Aurora", which was released to great acclaim, with tracks having thousands of listens on Spotify.

"I'd say it's like the first time we've started making a proper community," the band tell me over a short Zoom call. "You know what I mean? We're building that group all the way. It's been unreal to be honest".

Sat on a graffitied stairwell in DOA Studios in Bolton, Manchester, the four piece give off a humble impression, happy to simply be making music and taking any positive feedback as a bonus. There's no pressure, rather instead just seeing where things go and riding the wave. The studio holds sentimental value too, as the band explain it was where they started about a year or so ago. "It feels like home," the band discuss, "we feel very comfortable just to be here."

"I'd say it's just very powerful, very dark, very raw. I think it's very loud and it speaks to you"

The band name itself comes up in conversation - inspired by a trip to France and a club named Noir, and the rest is history. "It just hit me one day, Coast Noir, the way it sounds, the way it looks.

"It just felt like the exact right fit and the right vibe."

"Gothic, industrial, melancholy" [photo: Coast Noir]

At this point, I'm interested to see how the band describe the "vibe" - who are Coast Noir, in their own words?

"I'd say it's like a gothic, industrial...Melancholy. Gothic, industrial, melancholy. It's hard to put it into one genre because it comes from many different genres.

"I'd say it's just very powerful, very dark, very raw. I think it's very loud and it speaks to you."

The sound extends into the feel of their live shows, which the band describe on their social media platforms as "rituals". "It's just started to make sense to us," the band elaborate, "You know, it genuinely feels like we're giving a deep part of ourselves, and we just feel really ritualistic. It makes it sound more intimate with people who are actually coming to see us, like they're actually part of what's going on."

In the past, the band have received comparisons to other artists including Fontaines DC, Echo and The Bunnymen, and even Bring Me The Horizon, highlighting the scope and variety of the soundscapes the band create. The latter comparison strikes a chord: "We want to keep evolving, just like [Bring Me] did, just like all the great bands did."

"When you walk on the stage and you've got your makeup or your outfit on... it's gig time, it's on, this is it"

Shifting the focus back to Aurora, the band take a moment to reflect on the writing process. "It was rolled over many years, to be fair," the band reflect, "For instance, "Longing" was one of the first [we] ever wrote, but then you've got "Demigod", it's one of the last songs we ever wrote.

"Aurora" is out now [photo: Coast Noir]

"So it's a long process. I'd say you could hear it in the EP. A lot of it's centered around heartbreak and loss, it's very dark, but then it comes right back up to "Demigod", which was the last song on the record, which was after all this loss and all this hardship."

As for the overall process - "It's like you're getting in this flow state where you don't really think about what you're writing, you just know you're writing. You know what you need to do, you know what you want to do, you just attack it, keep attacking the song and then we'll play it through."

"It's like the first time we've started making a proper community"

The band take a moment to pause, crediting producer David Radahd-Jones at Red City Recordings for helping to shape the record's sound. "He builds a song with us. He was a massive, massive part of our sound on this one, he worked with us like he'd become a band member."

[photo: Coast Noir]

As conversation comes to a close, the band take one last moment to reflect on their stage show. "It's absolutely unfiltered, aggressive...us being our true authentic selves. And we're going to keep building that ritualistic aspect. It's going to incorporate more, I think, all the time. In 10 years, we'll see what it becomes. I'm excited.

"When you walk on the stage and you've got your makeup or your outfit on...as soon as we hear that first note, everyone clicks. It's gig time, it's on, this is it."

With shows in London, Leeds and Manchester already announced for next year, it's clear that this is a band with no signs of slowing down.

The rituals are ready - are you?

Listen to "Aurora" NOW on all streaming platforms