Trains For Brazil

UK upstarts, Guillemots first came to my attention when Chromewaves made a reference to them several weeks ago.(Just to let you know Frank, like you mentioned you'll miss them in Toronto when they play the Horseshoe Tavern on March 15th, but you'll have a chance to see them at SXSW on March 16th, according to their MySpace site). Thanks to Take Your Medicine for leading me towards BBC News website's Sound of 2006 survey which asked more than 100 critics and broadcasters for their favourite up-and-coming acts, where Guillemots made the top 10 with a respectable ranking at #5. As the saying goes, familiarity breeds contempt, so I vow to seek out more new music in 2006, and Guillemots are the first band this year that I'm really excited to discover. My impressions are really only based on a couple of songs so far, but if they're any indication of the band overall, look out. Check out their MySpace site to listen to audio streams of their songs "Trains For Brazil" and "Made Up Love Song #43". The former is a sprightly performed pop song that grooves along like classic Motown, embellished with bright horn arrangements and energetic vocals, but also echoes the now-classic early 80's Scottish pop of Aztec Camera. The Scottish pop comparisons continue on with the more subdued "Made Up Love Song #43" but the song's subtle urgency also reminds me of a less cloying James. Making up the band are members Fyfe Dangerfield(vocals/keyboards), MC Lord Magrao(guitar), Aristazabal Hawkes(double bass), and Rican Caol(drummer/percussion), and on names alone I might have guessed they'd rule the school. Let's hope they do when they come to Toronto for a show at the Horseshoe Tavern on March 15th[via Chromewaves via Emerge Blog].

According to an entry about the band at Wikipedia, Guillemots will release their debut album this year and they will make the move to Polydor Records.

Check out Guillemots' page over at their current record label Fantastic Plastic Records.

MP3 blog Sixeyes, describes Guillemots' music as "...if Scottish band Belle and Sebastian traded in their twee-ness for a tad more thump, a touch more grit."

Guillemots spoke with SoundsXP in November 2005

Rock de Indio has available for download the music video for "Made Up Love Song #43" as well as the music video for "Trains To Brazil".

Here are some streaming audio/video links of the band performing for VPRO 3VOOR12.

Listen to the live session that Guillemots performed for XFM in 2005.