Thursday 08 July 2010



NEW MUSiC: Kill The Lights

(photo: radio3.cbc.ca)

After a Saturday of slugging it out with a reckless tree in my backyard, I spent the better part of Sunday morning alternating between overdosing on vitamin D in the sun and basking in the aforementioned tree’s soothing shade.  I don’t remember the last time I just sat around the house and did nothing; no reading, no writing, no blogging, no nothing.  It wasn’t long before I started thinking about writing posts and worrying that I hadn’t checked my email all day.  It couldn’t have been more than 10 minutes before I started fingering my iPhone about to check my email when the CBC Radio app caught my eye.  Brilliant!  I’ll just sit out here a little longer, listening to CBC Radio 3, and that way I’ll be relaxing and thinking about what to write this week!

And lo and behold, one of the first band’s I heard was Kill The Lights, four guys from Toronto and Montreal with a love of My Bloody Valentine, Ride, and The Smiths who’ve been releasing a lot of material this past year.  They’ve just followed up their 2009 LP, Fog Area, with a new EP called Pink Dog.  I know very little about the band other than what I’ve been able to gather from their Myspace bio, which basically described a band whose members were initially split between two cities, traveling back and forth playing the scene in either town, making a name for themselves.  Besides Fog Area and Pink Dog, they released their debut Winter Asthmatics in 2005, which was then reissued two years later as Buffalo of Love by Maple Music.  Pink Dog is being digitally released by Bonsound Records, home of another QBiM favourite, Marie-Pierre Arthur, and Polaris 2010 longlisters shortlisters Radio Radio.

What appeals to me about Kill The Lights is that they don’t allow themselves to be pigeonholed into the typical Canadian music categorizations.  They don’t play the same kind of indie rock as Arcade Fire, and they aren’t folksy or rootsy like “insert-your-favourite-folksy-rootsy-band-name-here”.  Their 80s and 90s English influences are actually a breath of fresh air (especially the lovely “Paint Your Eyes, Susan”).  At $4 for five songs via their Bandcamp page, Pink Dog is a steal, and sure to be a welcome addition to your summer playlist.  If you like that, go and check out Fog Area and Buffalo of Love, both available on iTunes (Buffalo of Love and Winter Asthmatics are also available through Maple Music).

MP3: Kill The Lights “Paint Your Eyes, Susan”
Myspace: Kill The Lights





by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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