As a child who grew up in a small Colorado town in the 80s, Kael Alden loves to reminisce about his Nintendo addiction at age 5, beating the original Zelda over and over just to hear the end-credits song. Or his insomnia at age 6, spinning whichever records his parents left on the turntable until the sun came up. One theme runs throughout all of his favorite memories; music.
That child has gone on to have great success as a TV/film composer since, and also with his indie band Faded Paper Figures. He now turns the lens inward as he embarks on his most personal and artistically sound work to date. His debut album, ‘Saturated Highs’ is slated for release Aug 19th 2022, incorporating elements of synthwave, soul, RnB, and psychedelia to form something entirely his own.
Focus Single How can you sit there? beautifully captures the spirit of the album both sonically and lyrically, and touches on the poignant issue being highlighted today in the Trump riot hearings. Kael can only be compared to creative moguls such as James Blake, James Vincent McMorrow, or even Nick Hakim.
He describes what it felt like to be re-inventing himself as an artist, as a father, a husband, and a citizen of Earth during pandemic-infused geo-political meltdown.
“That was a dark time, and some of that definitely reflects in this album. The whole thing pretty much plays like a conversation with my therapist. All I could do to move forward was make music. I don’t know if it will make any difference out there in the world, but it sure helps me work out my own shit.”
BIO
Kael’s voracious appetite to learn and write in pop, hip hop, classical, jazz, and rock styles eventually landed him a job composing music for TV commercials and film at a music-house called Robot Repair.
In 2008 Kael composed a 30 second piece of music for a Lexus commercial that, at the time, was so intriguingly innovative that it drove thousands of viewers to take to the internet and track Kael down, flooding his email inbox with inquiries demanding that he release a full-length version. Although Kael had already sold the song to Lexus, the attention it grabbed put his side-project, indie-electro-pop band Faded Paper Figures, on the map.
Faded Paper Figures (abbreviated FPF) have released five full-length albums and two EPs since 2008, all with impressive accolades. Many of their albums landed in the CMJ top 100 charts and received praise from the likes of NPR, Paste Magazine, BULLET, Wonderland, PopDose, Clash Magazine, and more.