About angel falls

angel falls began in the summer of 2014 after Dan Ballek's former band, Mr. K's Dream, broke up the previous year. Over the course of its 20-year lifetime, Mr. K's Dream released a couple of EPs and a full-length CD.

After Mr. K's Dream called it a day, Dan had a batch of songs that he hadn't recorded, and some that he had recorded previously but wanted to re-record for various reasons. He set about learning digital audio workstation technology (more commonly known as "recording songs on a computer"), which was a huge leap forward from his 4-track cassette demos of years past. In quick succession, he recorded and released three EPs/singles (Part 1, painting after midnight, Carousel) in the space of three months in early 2015. He posted songs from these recordings on Soundcloud, Bandcamp and on various Facebook groups.

These recordings came to the attention of DJ Heretic (aka Greg Wilson) of DKFM, the Shoegaze/Dreampop internet radio station. Greg got in touch with Paul Lopez, formerly of Spell 336 and founder of The Shoegaze Collective, and shared the recordings with him. Paul was intrigued and got in touch with Dan and proposed that Dan record a cover of Spell 336's song Silence. Dan gave the song the angel falls treatment and later released it as a single, which received a very favorable reception.

After Silence (and a couple more EPs), Paul and Dan began a true collaboration with the song Touch The Sun, which was released in July 2015 and was a featured track on DKFM's New Tracks Weekend. The release included the first-ever interview with Dan and Paul, who discussed their backgrounds and future possibilities.

After one more single (No Breeze) and a five-song EP (Never Leave), angel falls set to work on its first full-length release. ...when came out in February 2016 and included re-recorded, re-mixed and remastered versions of songs from previous releases, as well as the new songs Questions and the instrumental Miramar. The CD version also included a cover of Pale Saints' "Hunted", which first appeared on a tribute compilation on The Blog That Celebrates Itself Records.

Following the release of "...when", AF released two more singles in 2016. CONFUSION, released in August 2016, marked a change in direction toward a more layered, orchestrated and darker sound. Its B-side featured a cover version of Everybody's Got To Learn Sometime by the Korgis. Mine, released in October 2016, continued in the same direction as CONFUSION, and also featured a cover on its B-side. This time the cover was of 10cc's classic I'm Not In Love, which was lauded by fans and critics alike.

2017 was a quiet year for angel falls, seeing the release of a cover of Hawkwind's Silver Machine in March, once again in the distinctive angel falls style. The band spent the rest of the year focusing on writing new material, but did find time to release two more cover songs in early 2018: a cover of David Bowie's classic Space Oddity in January, and a cover of The Fixx's Red Skies in February.

May 2018 brings the release of a new original entitled clouds. Although it begins quietly with an almost-whispered introduction, it soon takes flight on a wave of shoegaze guitars and dreamy vocals, continuing in the tradition of previous angel falls releases and taking things to a new heights.