Revising the Past with White Lies
MUSIC HOLDS THE KEY -When I was about 12, I bought my first album. I had a desperate need to be cool, and I think I pulled it off as I strutted out of HMV with my own cassette copy of Tears for Fears’ “Songs from the Big Chair.” My teenage years began at that moment, as I withdrew into a sullen, walkman-induced silence for months at a time, reveling in the angst of “Shout” and smirked to myself bitterly as “Mothers Talk” blasted into my ears.
Interesting then, that I spoke to my 11-year-old little brother in England last week when he asked me with some relish if I’d heard of a band called White Lies. Oh from the mouths of babes...
Interesting then, that I spoke to my 11-year-old little brother in England last week when he asked me with some relish if I’d heard of a band called White Lies. Oh from the mouths of babes...
Steve Gullick photo
And so we did a little listening homework: Formerly known as Fear of Flying, White Lies have a great new album called, "To Lose My Life." I want to thank this band for allowing me to revisit some of my earlier listening of music. “To Lose my life” is a tense and cold album, and seems to come from a period in the 80s when drumming was proud to be machine-code, melody was all bass driven, and vocal tone made you feel like you were being addressed by god directly.
"Fifty on Our Foreheads"
from To Lose My Life
from To Lose My Life
It’s a pastiche perhaps, but it’s also fitting in a year when other great releases, like Metric’s “Fantasies” (one of RSL's Best of Albums 2009) have brought us quite similar, aggressive industrial guitar music that you can dance to. White Lies' punching drum lines and forthright vocals manage to be both a license for the thirty-somethings to return to ‘the good old days,’ and a very, very new sound all their own. Check out the band and pick up this album!
Comments
They have some catchy tunes but I wouldn't go so far.
(they played with vampire weekend, phoenix, 30 seconds to mars, and Muse)
i wouldn't snark at such at remark. yeah, white lies does have Killers moments, however, going to such a comparison is going too far because when listening to white lies, i end up in a completely different direction than when i listen to the Killers.