With the supposed death of indie rock being mulled over at length in most music publications and only the re-hashed, stripped down guitar anthems of the Vaccines making a minor dent on mainstream success in 2011, you may well ask if anything other than R’n'Biza pop will ever touch the charts again. In truth, these things are cyclical; guitars will come again, just not before Scouting For Girls break up. Maybe it’s for the best.

Onto this barren musical landscape emerge the rather flashy looking Spector, long-listed on the BBC’s influential Sound of 2012, sporting ludicrous ’50s NHS style spectacles in seemingly un-ironic fashion, and of course, starring a singer and main musical homme who has kicked around the music scene for a while in various other semi-successful guises. Rebranding in the indie scene makes Lana Del Ray’s over-analysed reinvention look like a minor course adjustment and Spector’s volte-face leader is the handsomely appointed Fred Macpherson, a veteran of Ox.Eagle.Lion.Man, a considerably more out-there band who released a string of ambitious prog-rock EPs on Transgressive a few years back. Macpherson is no stranger to the music scene, which should prepare him nicely for the potentially hard yards ahead.

So then, onto the music, and the band’s upcoming gig in Brighton’s very own bare walled cavern, the Green Door Store. Misleading early references to the band as East London’s the Strokes seem to have been directed more at the band’s penchant for snazzy tailoring than their ability to write shabby-chic indie classics. They’re sharp-suited men, but musically they are not exactly the salvation of guitar-led rock’n'roll, rather an unashamed pop band who also play guitars. Observe the catchy synth-led “Grey Shirt and Tie” for example. Sounding like Brighton’s own sartorial re-inventers Mirrors, who delivered a minor synth-pop classic with last year’s “Lights and Offerings” debut, this is a simple, early ’80s pop song updated for a new generation. “Never Fade Away” employs a handclap rhythm and a mantra-like chant, to prove beyond all doubt that in pop music, simple is as simple does. New single “Chevy Thunder” is an outlandishly straightforward new wave-styled pop song, full of woah-woahs and a driving riff. Heard alongside the band’s previous releases, it suggests a band still trying to nail their own sound.

So, whether you believe the hype and think they are the next big thing in indie or the saviours of the guitar band, or think they are merely the latest shameless musical chancers hiding behind some sharp threads, this low-key gig is a fascinating opportunity to test the pulse of indie rock as 2012 kicks into life.

Long before country music crossed over into the mainstream and the pedal steel started cropping up on every record you swung your lugholes at, five Saskatonians were making the sweetest roots music you could imagine in Saskatoon, one of the few cities in the world named after a berry. Those five men went by the name The Deep Dark Woods, and after their eponymous debut album and 2007’s “Hang Me Oh Hang Me”, the band really hit their straps with the superb “Winter Hours” in 2009. The album, primarily recorded live, captures the essence of the band’s warm, earthy music, lovely harmonies cozying up with mountain music guitars to make a sound that seems to span the timeline of folk music, back into the campfire-warmed mists and forward to the bluesy heritage of Howlin’ Wolf and right through to the Band.

With a new album “The Place I Left Behind” released at the tail end of last year and building on the band’s momentum, enriching their sound even further, this first UK show is as welcome as it is overdue, thanks to the efforts of Drifter Promotions. Not many bands manage to fuse together such a wide range of instrumentation without muddying their sound, and even fewer achieve the kind of warmth of tone these Canadians manage. Ryan Boldt is blessed with one of those voices that resonates through the ages, giving the band’s songs a timelessness that’s almost impossible to conjure and qualifies as the most beautiful alchemy. Rich guitars, ghostly Hammond, an easy loose-limbed spirit allied to a tightness that only bands who grow together over years can realize. While Fleet Foxes get the headlines for the smooth harmonies and Felice Brothers build a reputation for ramshackle roots rock, The Deep Dark Woods manage to match both, but with none of the hype. Rumours of the band’s live show suggest this is one of those genuine unmissable gigs that come along once in a blue moon and simply couldn’t come more highly recommended.

Tickets are available here, but snap them up fast, there are only 20 left at the time of this post…

After last year’s bumper crop of albums, 2011 has again been a mighty strong year for alternative music, with a mixture of old favourites and feisty new pretenders to the throne releasing a sensational string of albums, from PJ Harvey’s Mercury winning “Let England Shake” to EMA’s bleak and heavy post-grunge debut. But in the interests of brevity we have whittled down all the good and great albums of the year to a manageable twenty five, and finally decided on Lazy Brighton’s album of the year. So after last year’s winner, Caitlin Rose’s inspired debut “Own Side Now”, here follows our top twenty five albums of 2011…

1. Destroyer “Kaputt”

No-one saw it coming. What sounds on paper like a deeply unfashionable trawl through soft-sax soul rock, is by dint of its superb songwriting, a triumph of slinky moods, sexy grooves and wide-eyed, late night reflections. Dan Bejar’s album is ostensibly a love letter to ’80s British pop a la Roxy Music, abounding with references to New Order, Sounds, Smash Hits and NME. That it feels contemporary, and more importantly, that it rewards repeat listens with enough slow revealing flourishes to make the listener crack into a goofy smile multiple times through any play through, is testament to its quality and makes it our album of the year.

2. Wye Oak “Civilian”

After developing their sound across 2007’s “If Children” and 2009’s “The Knot”, this year’s “Civilian” lifted the Baltimore duo to another level. With an indie rock sound built around Jenn Wasner’s startlingly diverse vocal style – she goes from dark and affected on album opener “Two Small Deaths” to haunting and ethereal on the title track via a uniquely appealing slurry drawl. In between those songs is the magically woozy-dark rock of “Holy Holy”, a hypnotic example of the band’s ouevre . The duo are a shining example of contemporary, intelligent indie rock, straddling the mainstream and alternative musical landscapes with grace and oodles of class.

3. Fionn Regan “100 Acres of Sycamore”

How good is Fionn Regan? On the basis of this album, very, very, good and still getting better. Eschewing the electrics of his sophomore album, this is back to the simple, primarily acoustic nature of his “The End of History” debut album. Highlights abound, not least the pastoral, richly evocative “The Horses Are Asleep” and cunningly brief and touching lullaby “1st Day of May”. An album both rich and lyrical, dappled with delicate touches of beauty.

4. Wilco “The Whole Love”

With the release of “The Whole Love” Tweedy and the boys seemed to blend elements of both the elemental “Sky Blue Sky” and the more diverse “Wilco (The Album)” to make a coherent, yet multi-faceted piece of work. Incorporating both the pseudo-experimental (sensational album opener “The Art of Almost”) and delicately ethereal (“Black Moon”), the album also finds time for trademark retrospective jaunty (“Capitol City”). All-in-all an on the money highlight reel from one of America’s finest bands.

5. PJ Harvey “Let England Shake”

The hype was wholly merited on Polly Harvey’s no-holds-barred, bellicose-baiting anti-paean to our nation’s bloodthirsty past and present. You really have to marvel at the details that lift this ostensibly straightforward album into the realms of brilliance. That reveille on “The Glorious Land”, the chanting, echoey, dank mood in the butcher’s yard revelations of “The Words that Maketh Murder”, the Eddie Cochran fade out of the same song. This is an album which presses down on the listener with a strange sense of historical weight and guilt, yet factors in an underlying and deep sense of love, matched by musical inspiration and precision.

6. AA Bondy “Believers”

Broader range and fuller instrumentation lend a moody swoon to AA Bondy’s third album, which leans more heavily on a reverb-y sound, making the dark folk preacher of previous releases sound more like a detached, world-weary sage looking down over a Cormac McCarthy designed universe. Listen to the likes of “Surfer King” and “Down in the Fire (Lost Sea)” and lose yourself in one of the most enigmatic, beautifully soulful singers around.

7. St Vincent “Strange Mercy”

Like Lykke Li’s “Wounded Rhymes”, Annie Clark’s new album skitters along above a hard edged foundation, but finds room for an innovation and quirky beauty that recalls Kate Bush’s finer moments. Take “Cruel” a tour-de-force featuring a sensational, unlikely choral hook, childlike guitar lick to die for, and a tone that somehow conjures thoughts of MGM musicals. Maybe that last bit’s just us. Playful, broad of scope, startlingly original, St Vincent goes from strength to strength.

8. Israel Nash Gripka “Barn Doors and Concrete Floors”

With a name that conjures biblical Russians living in an Amish community somewhere near Dubrovnik, some readers may have missed out on this big-voiced American country-infused singer. Channeling everything from Creedence to Bob Seger and Ryan Adams, “Barn Doors…” is, appropriately, a potentially hit-filled barnstormer. Any sense of familiarity is outweighed by the exuberance, quality playing and on-the-money sound, courtesy of Steve Shelley’s production.

9. Ryan Adams “Ashes and Fire”

Touted generally as something of a comeback, “Ashes and Fire” actually just builds on 2007’s very fine and quality-controlled “Easy Tiger”. Softer than that album but again showing an admirable restraint, Adams has rarely sounded better thanks to some on-the-money production from veteran dial twiddler Glyn Johns. A certain uniformity of pace leads to little mid-album sag, but this remains a testament to Adams remarkable quality as songwriter and singer.

10. Richmond Fontaine “The High Country”

Willy Vlautin, sometime novelist, sometime singer with Richmond Fontaine, has long impressed with his tales of blue-collar woe set against a musical landscape of an evocative alt-country sound, but “The High Country” brings his two art forms closer together, forging a crazed gothic love story set against a backdrop of speed freaks and logging woods. Part crazy, part brilliant, and somewhat difficult to follow, may Vlautin and Co remain always on the ride.

11. Bon Iver “Bon Iver”

Presented with the impossible job of following up the near perfect word-of-mouth triumph of “For Emma, Forever Ago”, Justin Vernon made it all look easy on this self-titled follow up. Those ghostly, wintry chorals are back, but this time there is a swathe of wider instrumentation that adds further layers to the band’s sound, while the big man finds time to honour ’80s/’90s ivory twinkler Bruce Hornsby on album closer, and one of our favourite songs of the year, “Beth/Rest”

12. Gillian Welch “The Harrow and the Harvest”

Being alt-country royalty comes with responsibilities, and Gillian Welch’s “The Harrow and the Harvest” lets precisely no-one down. It helps to have a smoky old country voice to die for, of course, but it’s the authenticity of her records that makes Welch so beguiling. Simple, traditional songs, perfectly played, with long time partner David Rawlings’ inventive, fascinating guitar work and harmonies embellishing the songs with such simple lustre that it entirely underplays the duo’s sheer class. Oh, and mostly they record in one take. Easy.

13. Lykke Li “Wounded Rhymes”

Like some gothic temptress, Lykke Li tends to stand on stage in a slightly spooky black dress. The beauty and the bleakness are slightly disconcerting, but on her second album the Swedish singer seems to be channeling higher powers. Industrial, dark synths give the album a certain menace, while melodically the songs are every bit as strong as on debut album “Youth Novels”. Stark, strong and unmissably classy, the album only serves to enhance the singer’s burgeoning reputation.

14. Okkervil River “I Am Very Far”

Will Sheff and his boys (and girl) seem happy in their skin these days, perhaps as a result of long deserved wider acclaim – and it can’t hurt to have a series of very fine albums under your collective belt. “I Am Very Far” is, on that basis, a brave album, perhaps the band’s least accessible and least giving, Sheff seemingly wanting to push the boundaries of his songwriting, and perhaps the expectations upon his songwriting. Tough but admirable.

15. Megafaun “Megafaun”

Perhaps better known as former Justin Vernon bandmates, like his recent release Megafaun’s new album also features an eponymous title and does an equally good job of delivering its delicious rootsy payload. It’s actually the fourth album by the band (comprising brothers Brad and Phil Cook and Joe Westerlund) and continues the trio’s experimental psych-folk sound, while exploring some traditional Southern Americana (lush harmonies, largely simple, acoustic song foundations). In the same way that Wilco write simple songs and then chop them up and add textures and sonic diversions and experiments, Megafaun might be the most accessible experimental band you listen to this year.

16. Beirut “The Rip Tide”

Like Conor Oberst, Zach Condon is a poster boy for Generation 2000 indie Americana, and like Oberst’s Bright Eyes direction on “The People’s Key”, Condon took his Beirut project in a more mainstream direction on “The Rip Tide”. Still unmistakably Beirut, the ethnic folk influences remain but are overshadowed by a more uniform songwriting quality and a more trad-pop keyboard led feel on tracks like the standout “Santa Fe”. A crowd pleaser.

17. Kurt Vile “Smoke Ring For My Halo”

The cover says it all. A long haired man crouched over a guitar in a concentrated pose of studied intensity. Separately from his previous day job in the War on Drugs, Vile made his best solo work yet with “Smoke Ring For My Halo”. Like the War on Drugs, primarily these songs are noodling, technical things seeking some higher realm without resorting to too much of a traditional song structure. Every now and then, just because he can, Vile tosses out an insouciant melody to die for, like on “Jesus Fever”. Super.

18. The Decemberists “The King is Dead”

Faced with following up the fan-dividing rock opera of “Hazards of Love” against a backdrop of band illness, Colin Melloy returned to simpler, sunnier themes on “The King is Dead”. More country instrumentation than on previous albums serves the songs well here. Simpler, poppier and a US number one album, it’s a record which marks the exact point where the populist songwriting gift of Melloy, meets the more thoughtful instincts of good independent music, and everyone goes home happy.

19. The War on Drugs “Slave Ambient”

Long awaited, the War on Drugs second album certainly didn’t disappoint, building on the Springsteen-on-pot groove-mining “Wagonwheel Blues”. Minus Kurt Vile, the songs remain temples to a kind of thoroughly American blissed out stoner-rock, occasionally treating us to a gold standard hook, but most of these songs work as mantra like repetitive cycles of pleasure, sucking listeners into an enjoyable, glossy eyed sense of reverie.

20. British Sea Power “Valhalla Dancehall”

Sea Power delivered another fine album with their fourth long player. Recorded largely out on the Sussex Downs, this is an album loaded with big hitters at the top of the order, including the quintessentially BSP “Stunde Null” and sensational Krautrock surge of “Mongk II”. An easy band to take for granted, this confirms once again that no-one does thoughtful art-rock better.

21. Yuck “Yuck”

Who’d have thought that the kids from Cajun Dance Party would one day reappear with a faultless homage to ’90s yank alt-rock? Well, no-one likes a naysayer and this debut album from the trio perfectly captures those late ’80s and ’90s days of melodic grunge-tinged rock’n'roll. The quality of the songwriting and those searing lead licks make it one of the surprise albums of the year.

22. Jonathan Wilson “Gentle Spirit”

Analog-loving singer, songwriter and producer Wilson has been kicking around the American scene for years, jamming with a who’s who list of musicians and bands including Wilco and the Jayhawks, producing Dawes, and finally releasing his own solo album “Gentle Spirit”. A shameless throwback, the Laurel Canyon loving singer has created an atmospheric, dusky beauty of an album, that could easily be a ’70s original. Like some holy mix of Dennis Wilson’s solo work, with shades of Jackson Browne and Crosby, Stills and Nash, it’s a slow, loving album that unfurls delicately over its hour-plus running time. If you buy it, buy it on vinyl – you owe it to yourself.

23. tUnE-yArDs “w h o k i l l”

Merrill Garbus’s tUnE-yArDs caused a sensation with sophomore album “w h o k i l l”, an album which – at the very least – is the missing link between indigenous tribal music, r’n’b, pop and doo-wop. The step up in sound clarity from her debut on this sophomore album makes it a headphone full-volume delight, an explosion of colourful, indecently infectious musical joy, while a lyrical disquiet bubbles underneath for those willing to dig deeper. Either way, this is one of the unexpected pleasures of 2011.

24. Lanterns on the Lake “Gracious Tide, Take Me Home”

Slapping Newcastle back on the musical map in no uncertain terms, the Bella Union-signed sextet hit the ambient cinematic rock nail slap bang on the head on debut album “Gracious Tide, Take Me Home”. Hazel Wilde’s vocals distill the very essence of the words soft and plaintive. Like fellow north of Englanders, I Like Trains, the band makes music which swells and rolls, capturing something of the land and seascapes of its origins, origins matched by the local history infused lyrics.

25. EMA “Past Life Martyred Saints”

Erika M Anderson arrived in 2011 like a steel toe-capped boot up the music industry’s backside. It helps being about 6 feet tall and having a shock of blonde hair and pouting bubblegum lips of course, but it goes further than that. Her music is spacious as well as being dark, there’s lots of prescient distorted guitars, but also a lot of open ground, a lot of room for Anderson’s voice to hold court. Perhaps its the Dakota vibe, but EMA’s songs often feature an endless-horizon hopelessness. A nothing-ever-happens hopelessness in fact, with the singer’s vocals strong but vulnerable all at the same time.

Now we’re not saying the mainstream record industry is full of short-sighted, one-eyed idiots, but it’s a funny thing how no-one seems to have picked up on the vast chasm – no, the gargantuan void – just crying out to be filled by a guy/girl group playing smart pop music with guitars and harmonies. It looks like a no-brainer, but presumably none of the record execs even noticed that at some point it became completely acceptable for everyone to dust off “Rumours” and start to love Fleetwood Mac all over again.

After all, pop music doesn’t have to be quite so homogenized, does it? Surely there’s still some room to sign a real band these days. Despite their best efforts, Coldplay still sell records, don’t they? Painful as it may be to invoke Chris Martin and co as saviours of the good old fashioned band in contemporary pop music, it’s worth considering. But we digress. All we’re saying is that you might expect that some smart, on-the-money A&R man would have picked up on Family of the Year, a band with two brothers, a girl, real instruments, and – most importantly – a clutch of very snappy pop tunes. As long as no-one mentions the Magic Numbers, we’re all onto a winner, right?

So what’s so good about them? Well, although they released a debut album in 2009, FOTY’s songwriting really came to the fore on last year’s “Through the Trees” EP. From smart balladeering (”Hero”), through happy-clappy harmonising (”Chugjug”), to Empire of the Sun synth-pop (”The Barn”), the record did what good records should do, it showcased what the band can do. Which was lots of things, very well, since you ask. It even had a song with the chorus “…just so we can feel a little bit better about the neighbour’s angry letter on our doorstep, on our door-fuckin’-step”. So they even have a sense of humour. What’s not to like?

The band was formed by brothers Sebastian and Joseph Keefe, who were born in Wales but raised in Martha’s Vineyard, and they are augmented by Christina Schroeter’s softly sweet vocals, and James Buckey. Newly released EP “St Croix” develops the band’s sound further, the title track sounding a little like the Radio Dept on an upbeat day, a jaunty, big-chorused knickerbocker glory of liberating sunshine-pop. More appealing than the unexpected disappearance of Jeremy Clarkson, it’s sure to sound mighty sweet next summer, by which time you can expect the release of the band’s next album and a rather larger audience, we fancy. And who knows, a their current rate of ascent, they might even be the future of intelligent pop music.

Go here for more Family of the Year

Givers are, without doubt, not your quintessential pop band. The Louisiana five-piece’s tendency to eschew traditional pop song structure on their debut album “In Light” had reviewers thrilled and perplexed in approximately equal measures, thanks to the boldness of its songwriting approach. Here was a band willing to take numerous detours within a four minute song, whirling off down tangental musical routes, conjuring up implausible tempo shifts while occasionally throwing in the sort of exuberant chorus that had the post-Vampire Weekend indie kids eating out the palm of their hands.

As exciting, and at times confusing as “In Light” can be, in truth Givers are a band to see in the flesh, where their musical dexterity really shines. They caused a commotion at South by Southwest this year with their live virtuosity, so this Brighton show at Concorde2 is one for lovers of pop music skewed, afrobeat indie refracted through a prism. It’s not all experimental freestyling though. Debut single “Up Up Up” was, and is, a frothy, zesty and highly contagious brew, with the sort of chorus that nestles into your cortex and refuses to budge. Trust us, we tried pliers. It’s still there.

Of course it’s difficult not to mention Vampire Weekend as a touchstone, purely because they brought this broad genre of music to a wider audience, but that’s where the similarities end. “Meantime” for example, is a very typical example of what Givers do. Starting out with what sounds like a traditional pop song structure, it breaks down after 30 seconds into something completely different, Taylor Guarisco’s voice doing something of a Fyfe Dangerfield. No sooner have you rediscovered your bearings than the pesky blighter swings into something altogether different again around the minute mark. And a few more times before it reaches its conclusion. It’s dangerous stuff, but it’s impressive and refreshing too. Lob in percussionist and co-vocalist Tiffany Lamson’s smoky vocals and you’re onto a winner. But don’t take our word for it – present yourself at Concorde2 and prepare to be uplifted.

Check out the band here.

Bill McCarthy, singer, guitarist and frontman of Brooklyn three-piece We Are Augustines stands at the front of the stage, drenched in sweat, and smiles. “A rock’n'roll show, yeah?” he grins at the front row of Brighton’s Old Market venue. And he’s right, it is a rock’n'roll show. Bouncing around the stage with the enthusiasm of a young kid playing his first gig, his affable manner and passion is winning over a crowd which was probably entirely unfamiliar with the band before tonight’s support slot for Glasvegas. Which means even fewer of the crowd have any idea of the trials and tribulations which led McCarthy and longtime bandmate and bass player Eric Sanderson to this stage and this new band, a band whose debut album “Rise Ye Sunken Ships” is rapidly becoming one of the word-of-mouth successes of the year.

We Are Augustines’ achievement in creating a debut which channels terrible personal tragedy, and music industry inflicted despair into a cathartic tour de force of emotive American rock music is both remarkable and inspirational. Close to major success as two members of now defunct four-piece Pela, only to suffer the trials of mismanagement, broken promises and record industry apathy, worse was to come as McCarthy’s brother James, a schizophrenic, committed suicide and the band broke up under the weight of its surrounding pressures. While his brother was alive, McCarthy had been writing songs about him, songs that would have featured on Pela’s second album, but were destined for what would eventually become Sanderson and McCarthy’s new project, Augustines. They scraped together enough funds to spend three days recording what would become one of the album’s standout tracks, “Book of James” with Broken Social Scene producer and blue sky thinker, Dave Newfield, sessions fraught with tension and musically creative conflict, but sessions that resulted in a brilliant rendering of McCarthy’s vision for the song by Newfield.

With the album finally finished, and a tour underway, new fans are being earned the old fashioned way, with the sweat and searing passion of McCarthy’s voice, his tangible kinship with Sanderson and new drummer Tony Allen, and the gutsy emotions of an album which serves as both a vindication of humanity, collective spirit and community, and a tribute to the loved ones lost along the way. Sanderson took some time out to talk to us ahead of the UK single launch of “Book of James” and to reflect on the struggles of the past and the band’s hopes of the future.

Like a lot of people in the UK, we have only recently discovered the band. Your music feels very much like it could only be made in America; musically, what artists, people and places inspired the band’s music?

Eric Sanderson: Musically our inspiration comes from all over the world, whether it’s Simon Diaz, Franco, Oliver Mtukudzi, Charles Bradley or Steve Earle, we are inspired by anyone that captures the feeling that there is more to life.

It’s interesting that you say our music seems like it could only be made in America. To be honest we haven’t looked at ourselves as an ‘American band’ till recently and that came about more from other people saying we are than by our own design. America gets a bad rap a lot of times, and many times it deserves it, but it is also a beautiful country with a rich history that has made incredible contributions to music. America is also a huge country. On tour we are fortunate to have endless time to stare out the window and dream. I believe the stories we hear on the road and the landscape itself are where the real inspiration comes from.

Your previous band Pela seemed to fight a struggle with all the usual difficulties facing indie bands these days. Do you feel strengthened by those experiences, and energized by making a fresh start?

Absolutely, but that strength only came after tremendous reflection and time.

When Billy and I started rebuilding our lives as musicians, and decided to finish “Rise Ye Sunken Ships”, it was important to have intention behind everything we did. We abandoned dreams of grandeur for the desire to live a fulfilling life. We put all of our energy into being good people and treating others the way we would like to be treated. We embraced our community and opened ourselves to them. In turn our community supported us through an incredibly difficult time period, which planted the seeds for the life we are living now.

Having fought through band break-ups and huge struggles to get to this point, have you got any words of wisdom for bands out there who are thinking about giving up?

Don’t sacrifice your character for the chance of success. Believing in yourself is one of the most important things you can have in life. Much of life is about reflection and your ability to find your ’self’ under all of the layers. If you can find that inner core and in that place you truly believe that you have to continue, then continue. But don’t do it yourself, help others become successful, embrace your community and be patient. Find people that are trustworthy and trust them.

You’re playing in the UK at the moment and it’s great to see you over here. How’s the tour with Glasvegas been for you?

So far the tour has been wonderful. We love the UK and couldn’t be happier to be back. This is our second UK tour this year. Glasvegas are very kind and supportive which always makes a tour more enjoyable. Tonight we plan to hang out more and get to know each other.

Speaking of the UK, you have an English drummer these days, Rob Allen. How did that come about?

When Billy and I first started playing shows again we were sitting on stools playing acoustic guitars. We were inspired by the intimacy of that set up but we knew it was just a matter of time before we would have to bring more energy to the show.

The Boxer Rebellion offered us the opening slot on their UK tour and we started asking around for a drummer. Rob is a good friend with the drummer from our old band, and he couldn’t have been more highly recommended. Our first audition ended up being over six hours as we instantly clicked. We asked him to join the band on the spot. Within two weeks we were playing in front of a sold out crowd at Heaven in London. We were incredibly fortunate to have found Rob and feel that was the true start of the band.

We feel like you are invested with the spirit of some iconic US music of recent times. Something of the Gaslight Anthem, the National and even Springsteen. What do you think it is that invests American bands with such a big, cinematic sound?

Steve Lamacq recently wrote about us and started by speaking of some American bands’ single-pointedness. I never really looked at American music that way but it struck a chord when he said it. I can’t speak for other bands, but for us music is our life, it has always been that way. Whether we had jobs driving trucks around Queens NY, or working at restaurants, or in a warehouse, it was always music that kept us going. When you carry music with you in your mind and heart all day it just makes sense that when you play you also want to live in the sound. Music becomes the vehicle that you find yourself in so it makes sense that it starts to sound that way.

It sounds like Dave Newfield’s contribution to the album was a big one, but that it took a lot of faith for you to give full rein to some of his ideas. How do you look back on the process and the end results now?

Dave is an incredible talent. He is also a bit of a mad scientist. His greatest contribution on the record was to the song “Book of James”. It took a tremendous amount of trust for us to see his vision through. At that time in our lives trust did not come easy because we had been taken advantage of and lied to so many times. Working with Dave on “Book Of James” helped us rebuild our trust in others as well as in ourselves.

The sad family tragedies and events surrounding the breakup of Pela have been written about elsewhere at length. Do you feel that this album is in some way not only a tribute to those lost along the way but also a vindication that the two of you kept believing?

It is certainly both. When Billy lost his brother we knew that everything had changed. Soon after that we lost our band and our lives we completely turned upside down. For months we lived our days confused and lost, we were grieving.

“Rise Ye Sunken Ships” soon took on new meaning and became the motivating force in our lives. We needed to finish it even though so many people suggested that we put it to rest. We couldn’t walk away from something that we had dedicated our lives to, and sacrificed so much for, especially with Jim’s passing. Fortunately we are now able to take the songs on the road and share in a bit of a celebration with people that come to the shows. This record was always intended to be uplifting.

Have you had a chance to listen to much music during the process of writing, recording and touring the new album? If so, what are your musical highlights of 2011?

Right now I believe Charles Bradley is the highlight. His music is incredible and his story is inspiring. We are going to one of his shows in December when we get back to the States and hope to get a chance to meet him.

We’d like to wish you a happy 2012 in advance. What would be your greatest hopes for the coming year?

My greatest hope for this upcoming year is that we can continue to make music and play shows. I feel so incredibly fortunate that people are connecting with the music we make and hold that with great reverence.

We Are Augustines return to the UK in February.

The “Book of James” 7-inch can be ordered here

]]> http://lazybrighton.co.uk/interviews/interview-we-are-augustines/feed 0 http://lazybrighton.co.uk/gigpreviews/gig-preview-communion-feat-nimmo-the-gauntletts-the-hope-27-october-2011 http://lazybrighton.co.uk/gigpreviews/gig-preview-communion-feat-nimmo-the-gauntletts-the-hope-27-october-2011#comments Mon, 24 Oct 2011 19:14:54 +0000 Jonathan http://lazybrighton.co.uk/?p=3628

Fresh from playing at the Duke of York’s with the inestimably lovely Emmy the Great, the band’s mentor of sorts, the equally lovely, quirky and ultra-talented Nimmo & the Gauntletts head up October’s Communion line-up at the Hope. If you missed the band’s previous performance at Communion earlier in the year, the redemptive music gods are on your side, because this is another chance to see one of the most exciting, euphoric young bands around at the moment.

We could wibble on pretty much ad nauseam about this band, not only (but primarily) because we’re sad fools, but dammit-to-hell few bands manage to piece together such a seemingly disparate bunch of influences into such an energetic but goshdarned tight sound. Take the saxophone-led “Star Crossed Lonely”, which initially sounds like something Foals might have conjured up but branches out into a whirling twister of dance indie. Old fave “Bandol Blues” is like new wave for a new wave, urgent but beautiful, an extraordinary, frothy jingle jangle delight, as at home in 2011 as if it had been written back in the early ’80s. Which feels like its spiritual home.

The band – named after front pairing Sarah Nimmo and Reva Gauntlett – but also very much starring Joshua Faull, Hannah Rose and Jack Williams are a blast of invigorating, heartfelt indie music. You could throw a heap of musical labels at them but none of them would stick; it’s music that flew the pigeonholes at the first opportunity and isn’t coming back in a hurry, and with a debut EP “Young Light” set for release in the next month or two, 2012 is set to be a big year for the effervescent five-piece.

nimmoandthegauntlettsuk
Communion

Photo courtesy of Louise Ronnestad

It’s always tempting to talk about Noah & the Whale’s musical trajectory alongside those of Mumford and Sons and Laura Marling. All part of the same scene, it was Charlie Fink’s Noah who first came to the public’s attention, releasing three singles on Young and Lost Club, and hitting the charts with “Five Years Time” – but it’s Mumford and Marling who have gone on to take up the serious musical column inches since. But arguably, it’s Noah & the Whale (who effectively kick started the whole indie-folk scene) who are the most progressive of the three acts. From the pop/folk crossover chart appeal of “Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down” to the Laura Marling-inspired beauty of the morosely gorgeous follow-up “The First Days of Spring”, there is a progressive desire for musical development in Fink that demands attention.

Recent album “Last Night on Earth” not only confirmed this expansive mindset, but also Fink’s hit songwriting abilities, via such radio friendly cuts as “L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N” and “Waiting For My Chance to Come”. There’s definitely something indefatigable about Mr Fink that has you rooting for him through his travails, and the energetic, widescreen songwriting of “Last Night…” makes it a lovely counterpoint to the heart-on-sleeve despair of “…Spring”. The chance to see the band continue their musical journey at one of Brighton’s very best venues is certainly something of an autumnal pleasure ahead of their winter jaunt to the US.

Like Noah, support band Being There have released their debut single on the excellent Young and Lost Club, although musically the band have more in common with such recent shoegaze revivalists as The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Warm and coy pop songs, variously awash with swirly synths and fuzzy guitars, the four-piece imbue their ’80s leanings with plenty of contemporary pzazz. Something to cheer the spirits as the nights draw in, without doubt.

Being There
Noah & the Whale

Anyone who hasn’t had their classic American songwriting cravings sated by Ryan Adams’ recent album release, may care to swing their ears briefly in the direction of a new kid on the alt-country block. You might not immediately associate the name of Brooklyn resident and songwriter Israel Nash Gripka with rootsy, countrified rock’n'roll music, but the singer has produced a sophomore album so loaded with American rock touchstones that it might as well have been called “A Grand Lexicon of Americana” as “Barn Doors and Concrete Floors”.

The key to Gripka’s appeal is twofold. A little like Caitlin Rose, he has written an album full of familiar sounding songs, rooted not just in trad country but also in the more pop-rock leanings of various ’70s and ’80s American icons. Where Caitlin Rose channelled the spirit of Linda Ronstadt and Stevie Nicks into her songs, Gripka infuses his boisterous debut with shades of that iconic generation of oh-so-American songwriters Steve Earle, Tom Petty, Bob Seger and John Mellencamp (when he still had Cougar as a middle name, naturally).

While the album has country at its soul, its physical presence is pure rock’n'roll. Sure, the album (recorded deep in the Catskills in a shed-cum-studio) captures some of Gripka’s big sound (Mellencamp sounding album opener “Fool’s Gold” is a pretty good indication), the singer really excels live, his big voice and bigger sound taking the fairly simple songs to another level. His recent Brighton show at the Green Door Store pretty much summed up the man, a life-affirming set of carousing songs, played mighty loud to a crowd who couldn’t wipe the grins off their faces.

The album successfully sashays from the Ryan Adams-esque “Goodbye Ghost” to the big-rockin’ gang vocal chorus of “Four Winds” and on to “Louisiana” which comes on like the Band’s “The Weight” turned up to 12. Nothing about Gripka’s lyrics is going to change your life, mounting up to a classic selection of endearingly cliched couplets (being a Southern preacher’s son obviously ain’t what it used to be), but worrying about that is the worst kind of irrelevance. This is straight up old school rock designed not to make you coo at the wordplay but to make you stomp your feet and sing along. You can always play “John Wesley Harding” tomorrow, after all.

Like much of the recent pop-country-rock music to emerge from the States, Gripka seems almost perversely suited to early success over here as much as back home. If you get a chance to see the man play live, grab it with both mitts, he’s guaranteed to blow the cobwebs away and send you into retro yankee-rock revelry.

“Barn Doors and Concrete Floors” is out now.

Israel’s website is here.

Anyone pining for some retro space-age synth pop in the continued absence of Empire of the Sun might very well enjoy the new project of ex Semifinalist Chris Steele-Nicholson, whose new solo effort is a luxurious audio treat of laid-back pop glossiness. Don’t be fooled though, where EOTS were big and shiny, taking the kitsch ’80s vibe all the way to the bank, Oh Minnows represent a much more thoughtful, introspective take on the genre. For all the authentic synth sounds, this is heartfelt, dreamlike music as likely to become your bedtime favourite as to propel you through the drive-time commute.

Mind you, “Another Volunteer” the album opener and lead track of the debut album “For Shadows” is every bit the throbbing, pop-gold equal of anything Luke Steele and Nick Littlemore conjured up. Interestingly, the album is the first album released on Young and Lost Club, the label responsible for all kinds of sparkling single releases from the likes of ExLovers and Noah and the Whale. Which adds up to two very fine reasons to give the band the once over.

“For Shadows” is out now on Young and Lost Club.

Check out the video to “Everyday“