Lismore

Lismore sent EAR FARM a MySpace add and I thought "hm, why do I feel like I know this band already?"... I researched. Could it be because everyone in the whole world has already talked about them? I mean, Allmusic said: "...Lismore points directly towards the current future of pop music." Maybe that's why they were already in my memory bank? Because I'm always looking towards the "current future of pop music". Nah. I only read my own stuff (open minds make the world go 'round). Plus, I'm wicked stuck in the superannuated future. Must've been something else... (what's a "current future" anyway?)

Having not figured out where exactly I'd heard of the band before I went ahead and did what any music type would generally do in such situations. I listened. I started with "Cherry Bomb" on their website's built in player (you should most definitely listen to this song) and I heard Lismore's love of pop, of electronics and beats and Saint Etienne. SHIT YES. I immediately realized why I knew this band and felt silly, but that didn't matter much anymore. What mattered was that I needed to get on to the next song - "Finest Hour". Ahh yes, trip-hop influence. The blips and the beats and the vocals are all there but I'm finding myself most enamored with what's not there. The smart minimalism of this music and the distance...as Matthew from Fluxblog said "there's an implication of physical distance and space, but it all seems to be taking place within one woman's mind"...I feel like Lismore is inviting me on a private cruise in the middle of the night and I can't do much more than smile and say yes to them.

Turns out I'd heard of this band before because I've already agreed to attend their next show. In fact, I'll be the DJ at their next show. Duh. I'll be squaring off in a DJ battle against DJ Colleen Crumbcake and I'm as excited as can be. Not because I'll be losing my 2nd straight DJ battle but because I can't wait to see Lismore play their music in a live setting. "Tremolo" and "This Time" are lo-fi shoegaze-hop better suited to be film soundtrack music than the next big radio smash and Lismore's cover of The Smashing Pumpkin's "1979" puts a welcome heady feminine spin on mid-90s guitar ennui. Perfecto objecto. Lismore makes me feel like the world inside my head is cloudy fresh all over again and they remind me how much fun it is to sit back sometimes and just smile at the urban melancholy of late November. Don't laugh at me, just listen.

Listen:
"Tremolo"
"This Time"
"1979"

Visit Lismore on MySpace

See Lismore live:
15 December 2006 @ The Delancey with The Ballet, Theives Like Us, and Bell