Chairlift – original music from ingenious musicians

The band Chairlift, based in New York, consists only of two musicians: Caroline Polachek sings and she is also the main songwriter, while Patrick Wimberly is responsible for production and he plays various instruments, from drums to keyboards. Actually, Chairlift always proves the fact that two musicians are enough to create excellent songs and to release not less fascinating records. All one need is just a desire to create. It seems that Caroline and Patrick do have that very desire, as soon as they issued their debut EP Daylight Savings by themselves in 2007. The rememberable synth-pop was successful and music lovers enjoyed it a lot, so the EP gave the duo the priceless confidence. Thereby Chairlift presented their debut full-length studio attempt titled Does You Inspire You only a year later, in 2008. That album was critically acclaimed, and it is quite logical, after all: the duo’s amazing album included the called-for nowadays genres, such as indie-rock, synth-pop and other musical directions, which are easily integrated into something bigger. Thereby the band found faithful fans, who were eager to get the brand new records from Chairlift. The long-awaited Something finally saw the light in 2012, so all the lovers of electronic rock, who had not had an opportunity to get to know Chairlift’s creativity, got a wonderful chance to open a great band that is new for them.

Something electro-rocky within Something’s tracks

Of course Chairlift are not the first ones who decided to mix the electronic music and rock. There were bands before them and surely there will be bands after them. However there is something that is difficult to catch, something elusive in Chairlift’s art, which distinguishes them from a variety of their colleagues. An outstanding musical intuition can be the very factor that serves Chairlift’s musicians well. Thereby, the album’s very first track, Sidewalk Safari, can demonstrate Chairlift’s style at its finest. The compositions basis, which is soft rock, is covered by a shower of electronic sounds. The arrangement is strengthened by an interesting rhythm, and the last (but not the least, of course) stroke is Caroline’s voice. The result of that huge fusion is an elegant sound that will be perfect for dance floors atmosphere and for home parties. The song I Belong In Your Arms will remind listeners of eighties or nineties of the previous century – it definitely got some old school features. A little pause will be given by a mid-tempo track Cool As A Fire, filled with juicy bass. Also on that track music lovers will be able to evaluate the real potential and strength of Caroline’s vocal skills: her voice fits Chairlift songs just perfectly, no doubt. A confident end of the album is put by another rather slow track Guilty As Charged with a powerful part of drums.

Rock of a new generation

Chairlift is one of those bands who are not afraid of experimenting with the sound. Do you like electronic music? OK, let the songs have a dance beat. Do you like rock and guitar melodies? OK, there is enough room for literally everything that brings joy to performers. Of course, such an approach is a winning tactics – if the musicians themselves are pleased by their own creativity, then their listeners will be probably pleased and interested as well. It feels that the borders of genres are simply erased on Something, and that uncertainty is one of the main concepts of the duo. Chairlift are already well-known by connoisseurs of indie-rock and experimental electronic music, even in spite of the fact that the group is quite young. The duo released only two long plays and several singles, but that was enough for them to get faithful fans. That is certainly a great contribution to the band’s future development. We will wait for the new works from these amazing American musicians, and for now we can enjoy a cocktail of Does You Inspire You and Something. Every long play is good in its own way, but Something proved to be a confident step forward.

Danil Chernovalov
09.02.2012