'Year of the Fiery Horse' is a four piece alternative rock, synth-pop band from Liverpool, Newton-le-Willows and Manchester, combining glossy synths, three part vocal harmonies, pounding drums, simmering basslines and complex guitar melodies. Mike and Bren had been in bands together for years, and went to school with Phil in West Derby. Mike moved to Manchester for work where he met Adam, and 'Year Of The Fiery Horse' was complete. They started writing and rehearsing together in St Helens in 2013 playing in Liverpool and Manchester and all like very different music. Bren likes loads of dance music, Mike listens to indie and hip-hop, Phil is a blues man and Adam likes 80's big hair power rock. Their influences include 'Phoenix', 'Metronomy' and 'Pavement'.
 |
| December 2015 |
In 2015 music blog Getintothis’ Adam Lowerson explored a positive start for these Liverpool newcomers. "According to the Chinese zodiac, every 60 years, the Year of the Horse turns bad, and is known as the Fiery Horse. In these years of the Fiery Horse, people born are considered to be notoriously unlucky, rebellious and irresponsible. In fact, some people take the superstition so seriously that in the last Year of the Fiery Horse, people in Japan are said to have deliberately tried to avoid having children to prevent bringing bad luck to their families. Safe to say, it’s not exactly the most popular zodiac sign. So for the sake of the band of the same name, you'd hope that it was all just a myth. Luckily for 'Year of the Fiery Horse', 2015 so far seems to be going their way. They've released their debut EP, 'Flaneur' through Bandcamp, had airtime on BBC 6 Music through Steve Lamacq’s Recommends show, and have a few hometown shows in the pipeline, including one at Maguire's Pizza bar on the 19th of July.. 'Flaneur', their four track EP released at the beginning of May, is a promising introduction to their Darwin Deez-y indie synth pop sound. Opening track Isabelle is the clear standout, melding choppy guitars with Nintendo sounding synths making for an easy going track with an instantly memorable chorus. While their sound doesn’t come close to pushing any boundaries, there are signs the four-piece have an ear for a melody and a talent for creating multi-layered, textural indie. They wear their influences for all to see with obvious inspiration from bands like 'Metronomy', yet avoid coming across as an imitation."
 |
Through songs such as 'Midnight in the Montmartre', YOTFH show a languid, almost slacker feel to their otherwise pop sound and a welcome contrast to the rest of the EP, which at times feels slightly repetitive. They had been gigging around the North West during 2015 and 2016 and had all got their own separate musical projects keeping them out of trouble; Phil plays with Liverpool folk legend John O’Connell. Outside of the band they have full time jobs, Brendan Collins the vocalist and Mike are dads. They are a quartet who dabble in chirpy melodies marrying sprightly synths, brisk guitar chops and melodies which gradually reveal themselves with repeat listens. Just to emphasise their art-house approach they like to throw in the odd bit of French into their lyrics - see The Flâneur with its, "Je vieux creiex un daguerreotype mobile et passionĂ©," vocal motif - rather ironically about pretentious people 'who say they are writing a novel yet never actually write anything'.
And then - nothing? Whatever happened to this promising quartet?
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2022/12/pool-of-sound-kairos.html
No comments:
Post a Comment