The Thrush CD
(Pickled Egg Records, Egg71CD)

The sessions for The Thrush were overseen by Bablicon's Diminisher and Blue Hawaii at the Shape Shoppe and at Mahjongg's west-side studio in Chicago. Its nine songs feature guests musicians from Bablicon, Icy Demons, and Mahjongg and includes 3 videos by filmmaker TJ Hellmuth. Believing that colour can exist in harmony with timbre, the Chandeliers pride themselves on their synaesthetic live performances: a non-stop high-energy show, augmented with dual projections of Brakhage-esqe visual rhythm. An album with the flow of a mix-tape, the Thrush is at home bangin' in your trunk or hypnotizing on your headphones

"Chandeliers use a strictly democratic form of collective improvisation to devise their music, which is best described as a kind of live-action electro. But The Thrush is so thumpingly immediate, you would never guess at any kind of committee decision making. The opening 20 seconds of Mr Electric flick between Ed Banger directness and a Kraftwerk-like neon lyricism. The remix of Body Double closes the albumin a furious hustle of Afrobeat drumming and rich Italo disco keyboards. In between, the synths mesh into arpeggios that seem as influenced by the post-punk end of the disco spectrum as Giorgio Moroder" [Sam Davies, The Wire]

"Smooth, squeaky-clean swirls of synth bounce atop glassy percussion that sounds like gamelan from a can. It's pleasing to the ear, like Kraftwerk or Eno" [Monica Kendrick, Chicago Reader]

‘The Thrush is a recording of Chandeliers’ intuitive approach to creating songs. Bassist and keyboard player Chris Kalis describes it as “very spontaneous and based on improvisations that the band randomly does,” which is evident in both the live show and, surprisingly, the record as well. I was not expecting the record, which consists of nine songs all less than four minutes save for the closer, to be such an accurate sonic representation. Given that the energy and sheer loudness are difficult to produce on tape, the album is not a bad calling card for an indescribable sound that even the band members decline to attempt: “We’ve always had a hard time describing our sound and not in a pretentious way, but just, like, it’s not contrived. We all have different tastes. Some of us are more electronically inclined, some of us more into eastern music and, obviously, 70’s Kraut Rock. German and Italian electronic music is pretty much right up our alley. When I pressed them to do my job for me, Kalis replied, “Live-played electronic music”’ [Mitchell Bandur, www.livemusicblog.com]

'Mango Tree' (MP3)
'Big League' (MP3)

Listen to The Thrush on Last.fm

Watch the 'Bamboo' video on You Tube
Watch the 'Mr Electric' video on You Tube

UK: £10.00

EU: €15.00

US: $18.00