Baltic Fleet

Baltic Fleet

Baltic Fleet is a British group based around Warrington artist Paul Fleming. Active since 2006, the project begins while Fleming is on a world tour playing keyboards for Echo and the Bunnymen, where he starts writing material that becomes the first Baltic Fleet album.

Formation and early recordings

Fleming records the early tracks with a laptop and whatever instruments are available to him. He captures ideas in hotel rooms, on tour buses and planes, and at the end of radio sessions and sound-checks. The material reflects places visited during the tour, including Texas, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Reykjavik and Brighton in the UK.

Style and influences

The music draws on artists such as Eno, The Doves, NEU!, Sigur Ros and DJ Shadow. Baltic Fleet is associated with post-rock, ambient, krautrock and electronic music.

Debut album and collaborators

The debut album is written, produced and performed by Fleming. It also includes contributions from Simon Finley on drums, Will Sergeant on guitar and Pete Wilkinson on bass. Fleming signs to Blow Up Records in April 2007. The recordings are then taken to Studio B at The Premises in Hackney for additional production and mixing with Nick Terry, who also works with Klaxons and Simian Mobile Disco.

After further valve and analogue processing, the beats become larger and the sound is widened, completing the album.