I suppose my interest in indie music only really kicked off in the latter half of last year; for over a year before that, most of the music I listened to could be classed as post-rock, math-rock or electronic.
I think it really began with Foals, having been ordered to listen to them by a friend of mine after stepping off stage at a battle of the bands in my university. I started off with Antidotes, and I was not disappointed.
I started asking around about other indie bands some time after that, as I had developed something of a taste for the stuff. Another friend of mine then pointed me in the direction of Trophy Wife, an indie band from Oxford.
He linked me to a song called Microlite (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esBL-v9sWeE), and I instantly fell in love with it (and its video).
The structure of the track itself is pretty simple, but it is rather wonderfully constructed. All of the layers seem to compliment each other perfectly, and nothing seems out of place (which can be pretty hard to pull off when there are that many melodies), and to top it off, the beat is infectious; despite the rather laid back nature of the track, I have on a number of occasions caught myself moving to the beat and singing along.
I’ve heard the band described as Foals’ calmer little brother, and honestly, this seems like a pretty fair description; Microlite feels almost like Antidotes-era Foals decided to try their hand at something a little more mellow and emotional (though to be honest, I may have enjoyed Microlite more than I enjoyed the majority of Antidotes), and it hit me at just the right moment in my life to really have an impact.
I was in a strange place at the time, and to be honest, I was pretty unhappy; I remember it all building up until one night I found myself aimlessly wandering around Galway City at night, listening to this track on repeat. It was cold, it was dark, and it rained, but, it was something of a journey of self-discovery, and by the end of the night, something had changed, and I feel I owe at least part of that to this track.
At over 100 plays on my iPod, Microlite is in the top 10 of the most played songs in my possession, and of all the music I came across in 2012, it is easily one of my favorite tracks.The band recently released a new track called Heavy Touch, which seems to be a fitting successor to their Microlite and Bruxism releases. Check it out here:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fAI-qKs0Ns?feature=player_detailpage&w=640&h=360]
And like the band on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/trophywifemusic
Vincent Hughes