17/03/2012

Featured Music: Arbor Lights

Arbor Lights - A four-piece alternative / post-rock band from the Midlands, last week released their eponymously titled debut EP. Clocking up with five really rather expertly-assembled tracks, the release, as a debut, seems to be doing all the right things.


Formed back in 2010 in Birmingham, Arbor Lights are Alex Clarke, Matt Elton, Greg Aston and James Clarke. Their sound, primarily instrumental, is finely polished, frequently pleasantly immersive and unlike many other bands of their ilk there seems to be no obsessive tendency to pull out tracks into 10-15 minute 'epics', which is actually quite refreshing.


Having first released a single On A Sea (see video below) in May of 2011, Arbor Lights have gone on to put out the self-titled EP, recorded over the winter, produced and mixed my Michael Clarke (1581 Productions), and now available on Bandcamp - on a 'name your price' basis. To their credit - the EP is riding nicely high in Bandcamp's 'Top Sellers of Late' chart, and as an added bonus - a couple of the tracks names have some wickedly inspired titles.



A number of live dates have been played in the Midlands and North of England over the last eight months and it seems no faint stretch of the imagination to say that with this release as a vessel to showcase their talents, the band could easily be out on the road in a more extensive way in the near future. It would be great to see them play down this end of the country (London/SE).


For now though, here's a taster for the band's live offerings, recorded in September at Birmingham's Flapper and Firkin as part of Artsfest 2011.



Arbor Lights have a great sound (and great taste - lots of Mogwai-respect on their site) and have made their debut with an excellently realised set of cracking tunes that can only serve to propel them further onto the radar of a wide swathe of potential fans. Give it a spin.