Fog Clears On New Sound For Kill The Lights

09/03/09 5:33pm

by Brian Pascual (CHARTattack)

You could say Kill The Lights have had a long four years.

Since 2005, when the band first started making noise in their native Montreal and (then) new home base of Toronto, they've endured record label woes, lineup changes, band drama, a near give-up-and-break-up and finally, a sonic shift.

"The same core is still there — Yann (Geoffroy, drums) and Joe (Yarmush, keyboards/guitars) and myself," says guitarist and vocalist, Alex Hackett. "Our founding bass player stayed in Toronto, so now we have a new bass player.

"But the biggest lineup change had to do with (keyboardist/vocalist) Steph (Hanna) leaving the band, because a lot of people liked the whole female vocal thing. And that is now gone — there are no female vocals on this new album."

Fog Area marks a startling departure from 2007's Buffalo Of Love, which sparked much attention and was immediately lumped in with the already fading dance punk movement. But beyond the absence of female vocals, perhaps Fog Area's most ear-catching change is in its production and darker feel.

"It's sort of a pretty radical sonic difference," says Hackett. "We wanted a deeper, more cavernous, kind of creepier, reverb-y sound. A little less accessible. And it's not that we want to be less popular, but we just want to be less clean and polished. Our last album, Buffalo Of Love, ended up being more polished than we would have liked."

Whereas Fog Area highlights the more universal and enduring moments of post-punk by referencing a more poppy Joy Division and showing an affinity to early-U2, Buffalo comes across as a definite snapshot of specific period of a music trend.

"Buffalo had just gotten lumped in with the dance-punk sort of thing," Hackett continues. "But originally, it was called Winter Asthmatics, and sonically it was much more lo-fi and much more similar to Fog Area.

"Then we got signed and the label wanted to re-release it, but they wanted us to give the songs a 'proper treatment,' which basically involved a whole bunch of overdubs and waiting two years.

"And so when it was released in 2007, there was already too much dance-punk out there and people didn't realize it was originally released in 2005. And we were just young and naïve and starting out, so we kind of didn't know what we were doing. So we just went for it."

That experience, combined with the turn of events that followed, would really shape the sound and overall tone of Fog Area, and the album benefits from it. But Hackett is much more satisfied with the finished product this time.

"It's a pretty somber album, quite melancholy and a bit depressing at times," he admits. "That's just where we were at in our heads.

"It was a pretty tough year. We were feeling down and out and beat up. Steph (Hanna, vocals/keyboards) leaving the band was kind of ugly to be honest, and when it's an old friend like that it can be pretty devastating. So yeah, the lyrics are pretty dark.

"So who knows how it's going to be received. I feel it's a much more mature album. With Buffalo we were so young and had no sense of dynamic and went 100 per cent all the time. To me it doesn't feel like we're a different band, but a lot of people are surprised. To them we sound totally different. But I don't know, I guess when you're in this band the progression seems more logical."

Kill The Lights play Montreal's Le Divan Orange on Thursday and Hamilton, Ont.'s Club Absinthe on Sept. 26.