Electrelane

Electrelane

Infobox musical artist |
Name = Electrelane


Img_capt = Electrelane. "Back row": Mia Clarke & Ros Murray. "Front row": Emma Gaze & Verity Susman
Img_size =
Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Origin = Brighton, East Sussex, England
Genre = Rock
Post-rock
Alternative
Years_active = 1998-2007
Label = Too Pure, Beggars Banquet
Associated_acts =
URL = [http://www.electrelane.com Official Site]
Current_members = Verity Susman
Emma Gaze
Mia Clarke
Ros Murray
Past_members = Tracy Houdek
Debbie Ball
Rupert Noble
Rachel Dalley
Notable_instruments = Farfisa, clarinet, saxophone

Electrelane were a British alternative rock band, formed in Brighton, England in 1998 by Verity Susman and Emma Gaze. The band comprised Susman, Gaze, Mia Clarke, and Ros Murray. Their music draws from wide range of influences including Neu!, Stereolab, Sonic Youth, and The Velvet Underground. Although the band has strong feminist and political views in their personal lives, they generally prefer to not communicate that directly to their fans or through their music [cite web | last = Capper | first = Beth | title = Never Mind The Bollocks... | publisher = Drowned in Sound | url = http://www.drownedinsound.com/content/view/2763 | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] ; one exception is their inclusion of the protest song "The Partisan," which they began playing while on tour in the United States during the months preceding the 2004 Presidential election. The band, when playing live, had a reputation for a focused and thrilling show that minimized audience interaction and rarely included more than one encore. [cite news | last = Sanneh | first = Kelefah | title = Singing in Four Languages, Revealing in None | publisher = The New York Times | date = 2004-04-03 | url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9800E7DB1339F930A35757C0A9629C8B63&scp=5&sq=electrelane&st=nyt | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] [cite news | last = Dodero | first = Camille | title = Hugs and Kisses #22: Farewell to Electrelane | publisher = The Village Voice | date = 2007-12-04 | url = http://blogs.villagevoice.com/music/archives/2007/12/hugs_and_kisses_20.php | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] [cite web | last = Draper | first = Jimmy | title = Top Live Show: Electrelane | publisher = Time Out New York | date = 2007-05-10 | url = http://www.timeout.com/newyork/articles/music/1605/electrelane | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ]

Electrelane went on indefinite hiatus in 2007.

History

Early years (1998–August 2000)

The band recorded their first single, "Film Music," and released it in January 2000 on the Skint Records off-shoot label Indenial. They released another single ("Le Song") with Fierce Panda before creating their own label, Let's Rock!, with distribution by 3MV. The first two singles they released were "Gabriel" and "Blue Straggler" and in fall of 2000 they began work on their debut album. During this period, they had a number of personnel changes. The original bassist was Tracy Houdek, who left the band due to a pregnancy. She was briefly replaced by Rupert Noble until Rachel Dalley signed on. Original guitarist Debbie Ball was replaced by Mia Clarke.

"Rock It to the Moon" (September 2000–March 2003)

Their debut album, "Rock It to the Moon", was released in April 2001. Although Electrelane started off as a traditional band with vocals, this album was mostly instrumental. Verity Susman explained, "Way way back, when we first started, we always had a lot of singing. But it never worked that well. When we did instrumental it was always more interesting. More completely we felt like we were doing something good, while the songs with the singing ended up quite bog-standard, boring, not very interesting." [cite web | last = Farouky | first = Jumana | title = Electrelane | publisher = Under the Radar | year = 2003 | url = http://www.undertheradarmag.com/webonly/electrelane/electrelane_bonus.html | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] NME rated the album an 8 out of 10, saying "Rock It to the Moon" was "just the way a debut album should be... utterly focused [and] stripped of all extraneous flab." [cite web | last = Pattison | first = Louis | title = Electrelane: Rock it to the Moon | publisher = NME | date = 2001-04-18 | url = http://www.nme.com/reviews/electrelane/4868 | accessdate = 2008-02-07 ]

"The Power Out" (April 2003–November 2004)

Electrelane brought in renowned producer Steve Albini to record their second album, "The Power Out", while production was still handled by the band. [cite web | last = Thomas | first = Sean | title = Electrelane | publisher = tohellwith | date = 2005-06-23 | url = http://www.tohellwith.co.uk/html/display_selection.php?section=4&contentID=984 | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] The result was an album that added more vocals and structure to the songs, giving them almost pop-like vibes. It was released on Too Pure in February 2004. The album was widely recognized and praised as critics appreciated the added complexity and vocals on their new work.

Electrelane had not only added vocals to the work, but had transcended conventional expectations by employing a number of techniques. Of the nine songs with vocals, three of them were done in different languages. The album opener "Gone Under Sea" is sung completely in French. The third song, "The Valleys," featuring the vocals of the ensemble Chicago a cappella, had in part sections from Siegfried Sassoon's "A Letter Home." On "Oh Sombra!" the Spanish lyrics are a sonnet by 16th century Catalan poet Juan Boscán Almogáver. On "This Deed" the lyrics are a single line, in German, from Friedrich Nietzsche's "Die fröhliche Wissenschaft" followed by the inclamation "Hände hoch!" (or "Hands up!"). These touches, as one review put it, "managed to be unique without being a radical departure." [cite web | last = Phares | first = Heather | title = The Power Out | publisher = Allmusic | year = 2004 | url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:lxduak3kam3p | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ]

Midway through 2004, Rachel Dalley left the group and was replaced by Ros Murray, an old friend of the group. [cite web | last = J. | first = Matthews | title = Electrelane interview on Left of the Dial | publisher = Progressive Broadcast Service | date = 2005-09-28 | url = http://www.pbsfm.org.au/Documents.asp?ID=1785&Title=Electrelane+interview+on+Left+of+the+Dial | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] .

"Axes" (December 2004–May 2006)

For their follow up, the mostly instrumental "Axes", Electrelane once again returned to Steve Albini's studio in Chicago. In the first recording session for "Axes", the band played through the entire album in one take.cite web | title = Electrelane - Biography | publisher = Too Pure | year = 2005 | url = http://www.toopure.com/electrelane/biography.html | accessdate = 2008-02-07 ] . This reflected the band's desire to have listeners of the album experience the band's live show. Emma Gaze explained the album was recorded "the way we rehearse and practise: we all stand in a circle and it is very relaxed. Our previous recording experiences have been with the bass in one room, the drums in a different room, the two guitarists in a different room and then the vocals are done afterwards. Obviously it works like that because that is how most bands do it. But we just wanted it to sound more live; there is a different kind of energy that comes from playing in the same room." [cite web | title = Electrelane | publisher = Broken Spring Review | url = http://www.brokenspringreview.com/features/electrelane.htm | accessdate = 2006-04-06 ] Verity Susman said that "We see the record as a continuous piece of music, not a collection of songs. It also reflects the way we improvise, moving from one idea to the next without a clear break. It’s also how we play live."cite web | title = Electrelane - Biography | publisher = Too Pure | year = 2005 | url = http://www.toopure.com/electrelane/biography.html | accessdate = 2008-02-07 ] The album was released on 9 May 2005 to mixed, but generally positive reviews.

As with "The Power Out", Electrelane supported "Axes" with a global tour. By now they had toured in the UK, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Spain, Greece, Turkey, Japan and Australia. They both headlined their own tours and supported tours for The Ex and Le Tigre among others; they had also appeared at festivals such as South by Southwest and the ATP Festival.

"No Shouts, No Calls" (June 2006–October 2007)

"No Shouts, No Calls" is Electrelane's fourth studio album, and their first which was entirely digitally recorded and mixed. [cite web | last = Pollock | first = Jesse | title = Electrelane Interview | publisher = FecalFace.com | date = 2007-03-08 | url = http://www.fecalface.com/SF/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=534&Itemid=92 | accessdate = 2008-02-08 ] The group began writing material in Berlin's Planet Roc studios in the summer of 2006, at the height of the World Cup. During that period, the band became fans of the sport, going so far as to rearrange their recording schedules around the event and including a sample of a match between Hertha BSC Berlin and FC Moskva in the song "Five" of their new album.

In August, Electrelane released "Singles, B-Sides & Live", a rarities collection that included a number of live performances as well as original versions of tracks from their debut album.

In September and October, they were in Benton Harbor recording and mixing their album. In November, the band announced on their [http://www.electrelane.com/ official website] that they had finished recording and had titled their album "No Shouts, No Calls". The album was released in on 23 April 2007 in Japan, 3 May 2007 in the USA and 30 April 2007 elsewhere. The first single, titled "To the East," was released on 12 March 2007. The album received generally positive reviews, with Heather Phares of Allmusic calling some songs "among the band's finest work" [cite web | last = Phares | first = Heather | title = No Shouts No Calls | publisher = Allmusic | year = 2004 | url = http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0zfyxz95ldte | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] ; detractors included Leonie Cooper of The Guardian, who mentioned the band had a "penchant for turning every tune [into] a proggy wig-out." [cite news | last = Cooper | first = Leonie | title = Electrelane, No Shouts No Calls | publisher = The Guardian | date = 2007-04-27 | url = http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,2066338,00.html | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ] James Reed of the Boston Globe picked the album as one of the best of 2007. [cite news | last = Reed | first = James | title = The Best CDs of 2007 | publisher = The Boston Globe | date = 2007-12-16 | url = http://www.boston.com/ae/music/articles/2007/12/16/james_reed/ | accessdate = 2008-02-06 ]

In May and June 2007 the band toured the United States with Tender Forever and opened for Arcade Fire on several of their shows. For the rest of the summer, they played the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan as well as various festivals in Europe, including La Route du Rock, Summercase, Montreux Jazz Festival and Festival Paredes de Coura.

Indefinite Hiatus (November 2007)

In early November 2007, Electrelane posted a message on their website, explaining that they would be on an indefinite hiatus.

"We have decided that the upcoming gigs will be our last for the foreseeable future. After ten years of much fun and hard work, we have realised that we all need a break and time to do other things. This was a tough decision for us to make, but ultimately a positive one. A big thank you to everyone who has come to our shows, put on our shows, and bought our records over the years. It means a lot to us. We're really grateful to have had the opportunity to play gigs all over the world and to meet so many lovely people. This last year has been especially enjoyable and we feel happy about moving on with all these good memories to look back on. At the moment we haven’t made any band plans for the future, but we’re going to have a break and see what happens.

Love, Electrelane"

Their "last" show "for the foreseeable future" was on December 1, 2007 in Brighton, England. On December 14, the band organized a benefit for the Anti-Trafficking Alliance at the Barfly in London. They did not perform, choosing to DJ instead. [cite web | last = Thompson | first = Paul | title = Electrelane Organize Anti-Trafficking Benefit | publisher = Pitchfork Media | date = 2007-12-13 | url = http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/news/47627-electrelane-organize-anti-trafficking-benefit | accessdate = 2008-02-06]

Lineup

Members

*Verity Susman: Keyboards, Farfisa, lead vocals, guitar, saxophone, clarinet.
*Emma Gaze: drums. (Also does most of the artwork for the albums).
*Mia Clarke: Guitar, backing vocals.
*Ros Murray: Bass guitar.
*Ruby Gorwiche: Triangle, backing vocals.
*Megan Lorton: Banjo, backing vocals.
*Tilly Stricker: Trumpet, (noise director).

Past members

*Tracey Houdek (1998–1999): Bass guitar.
*Rupert Noble (1999): Bass guitar.
*Debbie Ball (1998–2000): Guitar, vocals.
*Rachel Dalley (1999–2004): Bass guitar.

Discography

Albums

*2001: "Rock It to the Moon"
*2004: "The Power Out"
*2005: "Axes"
*2007: "No Shouts, No Calls"

ingles and EPs

*2000: "Film Music"
*2000: "Gabriel"
*2001: "Blue Straggler"
*2003: "On Parade"
*2004: "I Want to Be President" EP
*2004: "This Deed"
*2007: "To the East"
*2007: "In Berlin"

Compilations

*2006: "Singles, B-Sides & Live"

External links

* [http://www.electrelane.com/ Electrelane.com] - Official band website
* [http://www.toopure.com/electrelane/ Too Pure: Electrelane]
* [http://www.beggars.com/us/electrelane/ Beggars Group: Electrelane]
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:ujug6jo171y0 All Music Guide entry]
* [http://www.archive.org/details/electrelane Electrelane collection] at the Internet Archive's live music archive


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