The chorus to the track Gold, states “we are gold, we’ll say nothing“, which is absolutely fine by us, as music blogs like ours will be happy to shout for you loud and clear if you keep producing music as startlingly great as this shimmering alt-indie.
If you enjoy the tidy guitars of Two Door Cinema Club, of a kind which dance around like popcorn, or the afro-flavours of Tanlines, then you should become as enamoured as we have with this four-piece from Leeds. Their music is as tight and crisp as anything we’ve heard in recent times, seemingly erratic, as the beats and riffs dart about like a hummingbird. Even though at first glance they seem as hard to snare as grabbing bubbles, what you eventually find is that the music fills the space with warm melodies, particularly as they break for fantastic choruses.
These constructions are packed with oxygen, breathing so easily, particularly with the light guitaring that seems to be its brilliant signature move. The beats also feature prominently – so talented is their drummer, Greg Round – with rapid knocks that are as sharp as a tailors suit, lead by the slapped snare that hits late in each beat. It’s this feature that gives each song its busy feel, rapidly flicking around with about as much patience as a fly that’s landed on a line of cocaine.
They’re not scared of a winding build up and a joyful climax too, as they release the energy in each tune – as witnessed in the excellent track Wreck Ashore, that swirls up so much it actually comes to a complete stop for about five seconds, as if it’s breached the edges of the atmosphere and is hanging in an airless space, before bringing it back to a closing burst. This pattern is repeated on the impressive tune, Her Heart Is Quite Useless, which seems like they’ve separated out all the notes, playing each one with independence, before closing with a satisfying whip to the mixture.
This style of pretty, alternative indie pop, has been on the rise in recent years, ever since the all-conquering Foals struck their first high-pitched notes, but Loose Talk Costs Lives take it to another level, seeming like the perfect fusion of every band that’s ever been under that same influence. (MB)
Find them here: Myspace
Hear them here: LOOSE TALK COSTS LIVES – WRECK ASHORE
Hear them here: LOOSE TALK COSTS LIVES – GOLD
Hear them here: LOOSE TALK COSTS LIVES – HER ART IS QUITE USELESS
No mp3? Not even a link to buy one?
I’m temporarily out of the UK, so didn’t have time to load the tracks in my own Soundcloud account. I can sort this once I’m back. We normally list tracks that are available (with permission etc), but on this occasion we simply wanted to show them off and allow the tracks to be streamable (is that a word!?). There’s no link to buy any of them because this band are so new they aren’t available quite yet, as far as I know.
Thanks.
Mike
Thanks for the reply Mike, fair enough
I spent a month this summer away from home and it sure throws a wrench in the ol’ music blogging machine. I thought for a moment you were giving up on downloads and I was going to have to search for Brighton’s second most essential music blog 
I’m in agreement with Brandon. No ones fault though…
His voice can often remind me of a younger National. Some pretty cool alt indie/match rock stuff here!
Please see my reply to Brandon re track availability.
Totally agree on the similarity with The National. Spot on.
Thanks
Mike
The band are called Loose Talk Costs Lives…
Whoops! I’m posting whilst away from the UK and copied and pasted a typo around the post, so thanks for pointing out the honest mistake. Now resolved. Thanks!
Mike
[...] READ MORE at THE RECOMMENDER [...]
[...] pains me to say it, following the relatively recent online buzz of bands like Tall Ships and Loose Talk Costs Lives, but we think we’ve once again seen the new Foals. For fucks sake. Is there some kind of [...]
[...] adore bands such as Foals, Two Door Cinema Club, Tanlines, Fiction and Loose Talk Costs Lives, as the seriousness is removed more and more with each new band’s arrival, until you get to [...]
[...] Loose Talk Costs Lives recently approached The Recommender for some extended blog inches regarding their upcoming EP, following our initial bit of coverage last summer. The Leeds four-piece asked if there was any chance of a little bit of fresh editorial, which we’re more than pleased to offer, as there’s nothing better than repeat custom is there – makes you feel like you’re doing something right, right? Right. [...]