Each one of their songs made the crowd dance and all kinds of names were going through my mind, Talking heads, the Smiths, New Order, Erasure… flashbacks from the past I didn’t even know existed anymore in my memory maze.
Austin Taylor Tirado on vocals, who was sharing his time between the synth table and the dancing stage, had smooth moves along the heavy beats, and the way he was occupying space, like an Indian David Byrne (is it really his origins? Not sure), walking back and front, was capturing effortless all the 80’s feelings, a decade he has obviously a fondness for.
The band is relatively new on the scene, but they used to go under the name of Arrowws, that they had to change for copyright reasons. Oh but wait a minute, isn’t Le-Sands also a leather luggage brand? I wonder if they will have to change their name one more time.
Their updated 80’s musical style with its synth loops galore, has made many call them ‘new new wave’ or ‘chill wave, whatever this means, but Tirado has cited in an interview a very eclectic list of influences, and some may surprise more than others; Peter Gabriel, the Shangri-las, Talking Heads, and Paul Simon (didn’t see this last one coming).
Austin Taylor Tirado, Joel Plotnik on drums, Andy Breihan, on guitar, and John Fredericks on bass, are currently wrapping up their debut EP, that they expect to release early 2011.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb7v-oANeII&fs=1&hl=en_US]