Late of the Pier – Fantasy Black Channel

If you’re a music fan looking for a taste of something different, unique and thrilling, Late of the Pier’s ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ is a fantastic purchase, packed with twelve original and exciting tracks. The four-piece band from Castle Donnington have taken music to a new level, bringing us an album full of fast paced energetic rave sounds and futuristic synths behind Samuel Eastgate’s versatile vocals throughout. The studio album its self is wonderfully crafted, the opening track ‘Hot Tent Blues’ merging into a fast paced, choppy ‘Broken’, as well as ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ coming to an anticlimax before becoming the opening of ‘Bathroom Gurgle’.

The lyrics throughout the album at times seem almost schizophrenic, the lyric structure in many songs incomprehensible due to the broken syntax and high pitched screaming of Eastgate’s vocals. ‘Bathroom Gurgle’, the closing song of the album is stated as ‘unknown’ when viewing the song lyrics on the Late of the Pier official site, which summarises much of the lyrics throughout the album. The lyrics of which are comprehendible seem intoxicated and revolving escapism and light hearted ‘easy-life’ “lately i've been thinking this whole world seems too hard and i'd be better off to undo everything” from ‘Random Firl’ as well as the repetition of “easy life, is it an easy life” throughout ‘The Enemy are the Future’. In tracks such as ‘V W’ lyrics are completely put aside so the audience can marvel over the experimental synth sounds throughout the song.

Late of the Pier have created a highly unique exciting new sound, maybe not appealing to everyone – but nevertheless have found a gap in the market giving them high chances of progression. If you enjoy the categorised ‘new rave’ music, Klaxons or similar sounds then this album is certainly for you. ‘Fantasy Black Channel’ contains great sounds, a great vocalist and one ‘must buy’ album.

White Lies – To Lose My Life

Greatly acclaimed London band, White Lies, released their debut album ‘To Lose My Life’ on the 19^th earlier this month. Pressure may have been on the three-piece band, with high hopes and expectations due to much hype and media interest; but it must be expressed that this band has reached all expectations with a stunning debut album. Although the album sound in its self is not too original, with similarities to a Hot Fuss / Editors sound; McVeigh’s strong vocals along with a synth-rock mood and catchy choruses creates a powerful album. The dynamicity of McVeigh’s voice allows great expression of the at times rather grim yet powerful lyrics throughout the album – “let’s grow old together, and die at the same time” the dark lyrics throughout the album are a major asset to the album structure – building up to the vocal pinnacle of ‘Nothing to Give’ where the development of emotion within the lyrics are unleashed by McVeigh “But as you said goodbye, I almost died”.

Despite being labelled as unoriginal in their musical similarities to the Killers, White Lies surely have the potential of becoming a huge band in the UK and beyond. This summer’s UK festivals are seven months away and personally, I’d say a chance of White Lies being high up the list for some of the major festivals is a strong possibility. The album is certainly worth a purchase if you enjoy general indie, strong lyrics or 80’s influenced sounds especially, however, I would recommend this album to any audience. Brilliant.