Artist Profile: Snowfight In The City Centre
NOTE: I’ve got an unbelievable amount of work to do before tomorrow on this digital art project, so unfortunately I’m gonna have to skimp on Music Video Monday yet again, but to make it up to you here’s a profile of one of my favorite new bands that has been chilling in the “to post” queue for a few days now.
Mancunian six-piece Snowfight In The City Centre have released what is easily the most impressive debut single of 2006 with “No Light Left”, an absolutely untouchable piece of pristine, shimmering indie pop. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves here, first a little history on the band. The principle core of Snowfight formed last year under the name Lisa Brown (sometimes referred to as The Lisa Brown), and they were quickly snatched up by up-and-coming Manchester imprint High Voltage Sounds, who put out the double A-side “What’s That Sound”/”Anna” shortly thereafter, though the impressive release went largely unnoticed in the crowded UK indie-rock scene. “What’s That Sound” was a little slice of dance-rock heaven, seemingly plucked straight out of the 1980’s with that ridiculously-80’s “What’s that sound?” refrain, slick production, catchy hooks, and discotheque-ready vibe. As immediate and accessible as anything that Franz Ferdinand or The Killers have ever put out, the song had me sold a mere twenty seconds in with those four angular guitar jabs that alternate between the right and left channels and the track only got hotter from there, but remained tragically overlooked. The b-side was an acoustic version of this song “Snowfight In The City Centre”, which isn’t really worth mentioning if not for the fact that, after confusing the shit out of new listeners who consistently expected Lisa Brown to be a solo female artist, the band chose to take this song title and take it for their band name. Now they introduce said song as “Lisa Brown” when they play it live, which I think is clever and endearing.
Now playing under the new Snowfight In The City Centre moniker, they unveiled a whole new sound when they released “No Light Left” last July. Gone is the overwhelming 80’s vibe and in its place are skyscraping melodies and soaring choruses, a new sound that’s self-described as “the Arcade Fire only more anthemic”, which - audacious as it may seem - is seems fairly accurate in my opinion. “No Light Left” serves up a hefty dose of unadulterated indie-pop perfection, seemingly coming out of nowhere oto become one of the elite indie-rock singles of 2006. Seriously, I’m not lying when I say this song has the catchiest chorus of the year, hands down. They warm you up with that first “angels and ghosts” chorus before dropping the proverbial bomb on the second chorus, when the song really takes flight and shoots towards the heavens. Sure, they have the potential to turn into another Coldplay or Keane sound-a-like, but only time will tell. Their follow-up single, “Listen”, hits shelves in the UK on October 16th, but you can stream it on their MySpace page now, along with a few other unreleased tracks that show a good amount of promise as well. Long story short, this is a band to get very, very excited about.
MP3s:
“What’s That Sound” - Lisa Brown
“No Light Left” - Snowfight In The City Centre ((HIGHLY recommended))
Bonus MP3: “Snowfight In The City Centre” (BBC Acoustic Session) - Lisa Brown