Pool Of Sound - All We Are

The band hail from what has proved to be a very fruitful music scene, as graduates of Liverpool’s Institute of Performing Arts – the same school that has recently given us the likes of Dan Croll (also to be spotted in the trio's latest video) and 'Stealing Sheep'. They all met at LIPA's international students orientation day. Bassist Guro Gikling is from Norway, drummer Rich O'Flynn from Ireland and guitarist Luís Santos from Brazil. The band have been playing together since 2011 and with some describing their music as "the Bee Gees on diazepam", it immediately grabs your attention. 

Guro comes from quite a creative family who always had a lot of music and instruments around. His first band obsession was 'The Beatles' and had a kid-guitar attached to his belt as he walked around the house singing, what he thought was English, and hammering the poor thing.

Luís had a father who was a guitarist who took his baby son to his blues band rehearsals. Later, his mum, in an effort to prevent him from ending up like his father, got him classical and brazilian guitar lessons.

Rich who is from Ireland found there was always music everywhere and all the time and when they were kids all they listened to was West Coast hip hop. A far cry from Irish trad but far more useful now.

They released ‘Utmost Good’ as the first single on Obsenic Records in 2013. They met Joe Wills and Mikhael Paskalev at LIPA, so were mates before they started working together. Joe produced 'Utmost Good', and in the middle of recording he started the label with Mik and Pete from 'Spring King' and asked if they wanted it to be the first release. They thought that would be pretty cool and then they were offered to tour with another great Scouse trio – 'Stealing Sheep'.

Their influences go further afield than the Bee Gees. They all like different music including Frank Ocean, 'Metronomy', 'TV On The Radio', 'OutKast', Bon Iver and 'Broken Social Scene'. This allows the trio to go into the studio open minded and relaxed about what to produce, with a variety of inspirations to look to. What they aim to achieve when they're making music isn't just about the sound it's more about creating "an expansive, atmospheric world, with a bit of throwback nostalgia", which sounds like a fairly generic thing for a band to say but a good aim nonetheless. Unhindered by geographical restraints, it seems the cult of 'All We Are' is spreading fast, as proven by a quick glance on blog aggregator Hype Machine. Their contagious pop resonated with an unblinkered generation of blogged-up, switched-on music fans earning them a place on a glut of music industry tip lists, from The Guardian’s influential 2015 inventory and the BBC’s Sound of 2015 poll to the Get Into This (GIT) Newcomer Award shortlist. Amazing Radio, BBC Radio 6 Music and the PRS for Music Foundation also pledged early support, with the latter funding the trio for a UK tour and a single release in 2014. But probably the biggest feather in the band's cap was their signing to Domino Records imprint Double Six. It was a chance encounter with Double Six label boss Ryan McCann that sealed their fate to score them a record deal with one of the UK’s most prestigious indies. Rich says, " We had a support slot in London to launch our self-released single Utmost Good and Domino just happened to be at the gig."

In October 2019 they released their new single, 'L Is For Lose', their first new music since 2017. They had released just two albums previously, their self-titled debut in 2015 that explored sublime late-night grooves and the psychedelia, krautrock and post-punk-informed, 'Sunny Hills' in 2017. On 'L Is For Lose', they shape-shift once more to create their most euphoric and propulsive work to date, one which is underpinned with a warmth that runs through everything the trio do.

 

After taking a break to pursue individual projects, the three friends regrouped in a former school of which O'Flynn is the property manager and, with producer Dave McCracken, set about capturing a set of brightly lit, mostly danceable songs concerning themes of love, sex, and friendship. This is captured as they strike a more positive tone on 'Providence', their sunny and sultry third album.

On Facebook in 2022 they announced, " Here we go!! Been looking forward to this announcement one hell of a party that has been brewing for the last two years we are extremely excited to play The Williams Green Stage Glastonbury Festival for this years Glastonbury Festivals big big big weekend!!!

see also - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/07/pool-of-sound-candy-opera.html