Tag: Snow Patrol

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the past couple of months, I’ve written a handful of posts on the mysterious indie rock act Essx Station, and as you may recall the duo’s debut single “Can’t Go Back,” revealed a self-assured, hook-driven song that reminded me quite a a bit of Snow Patrol. Winter and Blunda, the duo behind Essx Station followed “Can’t Go Back” with the swooning and atmospheric “Awake or Dreaming,” a swooning and sincere track that still managed to sound as though it drew from Snow Patrol but with enormous, arena rock-like hooks. But underneath the slick production and big hooks of their two earliest singles, the duo reveals an uncanny ability to craft sincere, pop-leaning, radio friendly indie rock.

“Submarine,” the up-and-coming duo’s latest single, much like its immediately predecessors will appear on their soon-to-be released debut EP will further cement their reputation for sincere and enormous, hook-driven indie rock. But interestingly, it may be one of the more muscular and shoegazer-like songs they’ve released as shimmering yet angular guitar chords are paired with downtuned, rumbling bass chords, boom-bap like drumming, hand clap-led percussion, alternating boy-girl vocals and dual harmonies; in fact, the song strikes me as being a fair meshing of Snow Patrol, Pixies and Lightfoils with an overwhelmingly positive message. As the duo explained to me via email “like all the songs of the EP, this was written and produced by us and is about choosing to follow your own path and be who you are without listening to what others have to say. You disappear for a while into your own world, to figure out what you want and need. As the song says:


“We can be anything 
No one can see us dream
Float in a submarine 
Going underground”
Certainly for anyone who has been desperately trying to figure out what their place is in this world or who has at one point been desperate to figure out their place or face extraordinarily pressure to do something, to be a responsible, practical adult, this song will feel familiar — and it kindly suggests that sometimes the best thing is to go and follow your dreams and your own path to them.
Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Kiev Ukraine’s Indytronics Returns with a Rousingly Anthemic New Single

Last week, I wrote about the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post punk band Indytronics. Comprised of Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals), Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass), Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals), the Ukrainian quartet can trace their origins to when Bogadenko and Rybchenko were touring across Europe, and while in  Stockholm, Sweden the duo came across street musicians, who were playing an interesting melodic indie rock-leaning vibe. And as the story goes, the duo were so impressed by this particular group of street musicians that they decided that they needed to start their own band when they returned home to Kiev. 
Since the band’s formation in 2012, the band has released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and and as a result, they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally. They’ve made live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular radio rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France.

Now, as you may recall “Savannah Only Temple” was a slickly produced indie rock and post-punk track that to my ears reminded me quite a bit of Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, complete with a rousing arena rock-friendly hook. And while clearly nodding at 00s indie rock and post punk, as well as retaining the arena friendly sound of their preceding single, the track finds the band expanding upon the sound that first won them attention on this site and elsewhere, as the song finds the band nodding at electronic rock; but perhaps most important, is that the new single reveals some ambitious songwriting as they pair anthemic hooks around a twisting and turning song structure. 

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Indytronics’ “Savannah Only Temple” Video Captures the Lives of Kiev’s Kids

Comprised of Danil Bogadenko (guitar, vocals), Vitaliy Koutsiuk (bass), Ruslan Dobrov (drums) and Denys Rybchenko (guitar, backing vocals), the Kiev, Ukraine-based indie rock/post band Indytronics can trace their origins to when Bogandenko and Rybchenko were touring across Europe, and while in Stockholm, Sweden the duo came across street musicians, who were playing an interesting melodic indie rock-leaning vibe. And as the story goes, Bogandenko and Rybchenko were so impressed by this particular band and by several other bands that they decided to start their own band when they returned to Kiev. 

Since their formation in 2012, the members of Indytronics have released their 2013 debut EP Vision and their 2015 full-length debut Scintilla Wave and they’ve developed a growing profile both nationally and internationally; in fact, they’ve made live appearances on several Ukrainian TV shows and have received regular rotation on Ukrainian Radio Roks, Europa Plus, HotMix Radio, WCSF Radio German CTdasradio and others. Along with that, they’ve been written up in the British music magazine Huck and their music has been used for fashion shows aired on the international TV channel IDFashion throughout the US, Ukraine, Italy, Austria and France. 

Now, as you can imagine I receive quite a bit of emails from a publicists, publicity firms, band managers, record labels, bands and artists from increasingly far-flung places these days, and as the band explained in their email to me, their latest single and video “Savannah Only Temple,” everyone has their own temple, and it can anything.  And while clearly drawing from indie rock and post-punk the band’s sound is an incredibly slick and contemporary take that to my ears reminds me a bit of Narrow Stairs-era Death Cab for Cutie, The Postal Service’s Give Up and Snow Patrol, complete with a rousingly anthemic arena rock-friendly hook and a subtly wistful vibe. 

The recently released video for the song features the Ukrainian quartet performing the song in an empty pool that local kids have repurposed for their skateboarding, and the band broodingly walking around a school’s athletic field. And while being a glimpse of Kiev’s kids, it suggests something far larger — cultural differences withstanding, kids everywhere are almost exactly alike. By watching these kids, you should see yourself at their age, goofing off and planning adventures with friends, having enormous dreams of making someone of yourself, of having crushes on the kid next door or the kid in your Chemistry class. 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Last month, I wrote about the anthemic, remarkably self-assured, Snow Patrol-like debut single “Can’t Go Back,” from the rather mysterious indie rock duo Essx Station. Building upon the initial bit of response from their debut, the duo compared of Winter and Blunda have release their second single, the atmospheric and swooning “Awake or Dreaming.” And while still drawing some influence from Snow Patrol, the duo reveal that they can craft sincere, pop-leaning indie rock with anthemic hooks.

As the band explains “Awake or Dreaming” is “about the moment when you realize that your reality has finally exceeded your dreams. It’s about being happy with what you have so that you’ll have enough. As Lao Tzu said ‘If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. if you are at peace, you are living in the moment. This song is about the power of now.”  Considering the increasingly terrible news of the past few weeks, including the reprehensible terrorist acts in Manchester, this song should be a reminder of how we all must live, living to enjoy this very moment, complete with the knowledge that the next moment may not be guaranteed.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Winter and Blunda, Essx Station is a mysterious yet up-and-coming indie rock duo and from their anthemic debut single “Can’t Go Back,” the duo is not only remarkably self-assured, their sound manages to remind me of Snow Patrol as the single possesses a swooning urgency. And from this single I’m looking forward to hearing much more from them.

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Over the course of last year, the London-based indie pop duo Ten Fe won the attention of the blogosphere and this site with the release of anthemic singles  “Make Me Better,” and “In The Air,” followed by “Turn” and “Overflow” off the duo’s much-anticipated full-length debut effort Hit The Light, which is slated for a February 3, 2017 release through Some Kind of Love Records/[PIAS] Recordings. The duo of Ben Moorhouse and Leo Duncan ended a breakthrough 2016 with a Christmas gift to their fans, a moody, New Order-inspired take on Underworld‘s 1996 thunderous, club banger “Born Slippy.” And building upon the increasingly buzz for the band and their forthcoming (and highly-anticipated) full-length debut, the duo released Hit The Light‘s latest single “Twist Your Arm,” a single that sonically nods at Zonoscope-era Cut Copy and the soaring, earnest pop hooks of Snow Patrol as the duo pair shimmering and bluesy guitar with enormous, tweeter and woofer beats, plaintive vocals and an undulating groove. And much like their previously released singles, the duo’s latest single will further cement their burgeoning reputation for slickly produced yet incredibly sincere, anthemic pop that effortlessly meshes analog and electronic production.

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of primary members, their Milwaukee, WI-born, Los Angeles, CA-based frontman and founder Austen Moret (synths and vocals),  Jace McPartland (bass) and Sab Cahrunas (drums), along with a rotating cast of guitarists including friends and long-time collaborators Anthony Francisco, Dan Beltran and Mike Aguado joining the band for live shows, the Los Angeles, CA-based indie rock act Midnight Divide has gone through several inceptions before settling on a synth-based, power chord and big drum-based sound paired with anthemic hooks inspired by TV on the Radio, Radiohead, Imagine Dragons, Vertical Horizon, Snow Patrol and others as you’ll hear on the gorgeously atmospheric, swooning and anthemic “Talking” off the band’s forthcoming sophomore EP, which features Moret’s earnest vocals throughout. At the core of the song is a plaintive plea to a lover (or friend) to work things out; that better times could be had if they can get on the same page. But just underneath the surface is an embittering realization that things may not work out as planned, that things have at time and place — and the result may be heartbreaking yet necessary.

As the band’s Moret explains press notes “‘Talking’ lived inside me for years before I could accept why it existed. But I now know that’s a good thing because it means what I wrote is truly honest. And that’s how all songs should be.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Comprised of Ryan McGroarty, Cheylene Murphy and Aimee Williamson, the Belfast, Ireland-based trio Beauty Sleep can trace their origins to when the members of the band bounded over spelling naughty words on a fridge magnet crossword at a local house party. Those conversations eventually lead to drunken discussions about music, which led to plans to meet — and eventually the trio started writing and recording music that draws from the likes of  M83, Washed Out, Snow Patrol, Two Door Cinema Club, General Fiasco and Pleasure Beach as you’ll hear on their breezy and anthemic new single “Dark,” which pairs shimmering guitar chords and ethereal vocals with atmospheric synths and a catchy hook.