Fanzine 29 doc - soapforall.co.uk

INTRODUCING
The Lionheart Brothers LAYMAR
Magic Arm Moon Window
THE Lionheart Brothers have just
played their most bizarre gig yet. It's
April 4 and Norway's finest exports
are the latest act to join Lancaster
Library's endless list of top acts to
perform in the city. Watched by a
crowd mostly made up of
tweenagers, The Lionheart Brothers'
show follows previous library sets by
The Thrills, Adele, Bat for Lashes and
The Long Blondes. Speaking to High
Voltage backstage after the show, the
five-piece are enjoying a rare rest.
"The library show was great. It was
different, you know" says guitarist and
vocalist Marcus Forsgren. “We've
never played in a library before, it was
really cool. A lot of people showed
up!"
They had better get used to it. Over
the last few months, the boys are
gradually making a firm mark on the
British scene, what with their album
'Dizzy Kiss' finally being released in
the UK. So how've they gone down
over here?
"British fans are very similar to
Norwegian fans actually," says
Morten "No, maybe they're a bit more
open. Norwegian crowds are quite
sceptic, they analyse you a bit.
"The British reaction has been great
though, very positive."
With Marcus Forsgren and Morten
Oby on guitar and vocals, the band is
comprised of Peter Rudolfsen on
drums, Audun Storset on organ and
Frantz Andreasson on bass.
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Influenced by Beach Boys and Miles
Davis amongst others, theirs is a
transcendental, dreamy mix of
mystic pop rock.
Despite success in their hometown,
the band's biggest highlight to date
has been breaking out of little ole
Trondheim and playing to crowds in
England and New York. “We're
coming back to England this
summer," continues Marcus, "We'll
be doing loads of festivals, Summer
Sundae and Great Escape. Oh and
a Drowned in Sound tour."
But they might not be spending too
much time hanging out with English
bands. "I think every English band
sounds the same." says Marcus
"There's nothing new happening.”
But with that, he adds: "We're really
looking forward to coming over. The
people are nice and the fans are
great."
Words: Lauren Holden
www.myspace.com/lionheartbrothers
'Dizzy Kiss' is out now on
ShellShock
“We take a lot of influence from
Manchester as a city and believe it to
be intrinsic to our sound, more so
than a lot of the other bands that we
know of who are based here.”
So explain Manchester’s psychedelic
post-rockers Laymar, on the eve of
the release of their debut LP. The
intense layers of noise created on In
Strange Lines and Distances (check
review towards the back of the ‘zine)
belies their numbers, as Laymar are
actually three gentlemen in their early
twenties - David Paul (drums /
programming), Ciaran Cullen (bass /
synthesizer) and Colin Williams
(guitar, piano / synthesizer.
Putting the LP Together can’t have
been an easy experience?
“The LP is a mix of three people’s
lives over the last eight years; an
attempt at throwing their feeling and
thoughts into their instruments, no
matter how dark or euphoric, then
creating pieces of music out of them.
It should be listened to as a whole
from beginning to end.”
It was recorded in late 2007 with the
help of Tom Knotts at Airtight Studios
on an industrial estate in Chorlton,
and Laymar seem to hold him in
pretty high regard: “we now believe
Tom Knotts to be a genius.” Clearly
‘Genius’ Knotts has captured
something unique.
Not ones to standstill, Laymar
recently retreated to Cornwall to work
on LP number two. Ciaran explains
that: “The new material, although still
in its infancy, is more rhythmically
orientated. Still vocal-less (apart from
the odd sample), thought provoking
and moving.
“Writing new material in Cornwall
allowed us access to a purer way of
thinking and helped us to
concentrate solely on our music,
outside of the distractions of our
lives. This was productive but on a
permanent basis we thought it would
alter our sound to a point of no
longer being relevant to ourselves
and our home.” Serious words
indeed.
Taking the time to regroup merely
exasperates HVs feeling that Laymar
are laying off right at the start of a
wonderful musical quest, and we just
hope they get around to filling our
ears with aural delights for a long
time to come.
Words: Richard Cheetham
www.myspace.com/laymarmusic
In Strange Lines and Distances
released on TV Records on 23rd
June
It seems that 2008 is the year that
eyes are turning back to
Manchester, but the experience
would be so much richer if those
eyes peer towards Cats in Paris.
There’s no chance of Mancswagger
pigeonholing here; not
only do they claim to have found
their name in a dream (of a 30ft
kitten wrapped around the Eiffel
Tower like King Kong), but from a
starting point of “awesome plinky
plonky macrosongs with
glockenspiels and toy drums”, they
have ended up “a bit ‘I'm at the top
of a mountain’ prog-epic”. Whatever
that means, it sounds like nothing
else right now.
A bit prog, a bit post-rock and a lot
of fun, the band “purposefully try to
keep people guessing”, and even
suggest that a Venn diagram may
be the best way to show the
overlap in their varied tastes. Their
live shows are mesmerising, wholly
frenetic with numerous shifts in
genre and have won them support
slots with Islands and a triumphant
Sounds from the Other City show
where “the room was crammed full
of people and sweat and good
vibes. In fact it was the sweatiest
we've ever been, officially” and they
“had a serious dance off with the
incredible band Gentle Friendly. We
totally won.”
Looking to the future they’re off to
this summer’s Green Man Festival,
a slot they landed through local
label Akoustik Anarkhy, where they
admit they may be out on a limb
despite the traditionally folk-based
festival diversifying. “We've done a
few folk nights before” they say,
“where we're totally out of place.
It's actually quite good being a
sore thumb once in a while.”
And last, but hopefully not least, if
Cats in Paris were actually cats,
which part of Paris would they
hang out in? After suggesting our
own preference we get the
response “If you're on the
Montmartre steps, then we'll go
there, and maybe we could go for
a coffee, or a beer, maybe a show,
and maybe, just maybe, back to
yours?” Miaow.
Words: Hannah Bayfield
www.myspace.com/catsinparis
Foxes/Terrapins is out now on
Akoustik Anarkhy
If to the undiscerning outsider the
sight of another scruffy, backwardslooking
Manchester troupe on the
cover of music weeklies suggests
the musical tide up here changes
as often as the weather clears,
they’d be wrong.
One of many artists to break from
swaggering traditions is Magic Arm
(elsewhere known as Marc
Rigelsford), whose upbeat
electronica and off-kilter melodies
adorning debut EP ‘Outdoor
Games’ have been drawing giddy
approval from fans and critics alikewith
Ed Droste of Grizzly Bear
going so far as to say “I dare you to
tell me it sucks.”
High Voltage caught up with Marc
as he and co-producer Robin
Housman (previously working with
HV favourites The Answering
Machine and Polytechnic) add the
final few tweaks to his upcoming
debut LP ‘Widths and Heights’.
“It’s been about five months since
we started, from the original demos.
It’s a very meticulous process, cos
I’d been working on some tracks for
a year previously, I didn’t want to
lose the feel on the drums,
atmosphere and sounds. So whilst
Robin might usually be working with
thirty tracks on a band’s recording,
with us it’s been with nearly a
hundred. So it’s pretty painstaking;
we’ve kinda been experiencing a bit
of cabin fever…”
Whilst previously stripped down to
essential loops and acoustic
strumming, early indications point to
something sonically more
technicolor, “I’ve been listening to a
lot of hip hop and pop-R&B
production, people like Rihanna and
Kanye West. That kind of overlyproduced,
really good pop, and just
pushing the electronic thing further
too. ”
Past live shows have been strictly
solitary affairs, although this also
looks to be changing for upcoming
jaunts. “ I’m gonna be working with
a band called My Side Of The
Mountain; it’s gonna be great to
actually play the songs as you first
envisioned them rather than just
sticking to loops – which I do enjoy
– but I think for this record it’ll be
more relevant, and more fun too.”
The outcome is sure to be some of
the most joyous and infectious
sounds heard all summer.
Words: Mike Caulfield
www.myspace.com/magicarm
Magic Arm play at The Night and
Day Café on 11th June.
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