Chairlift

Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberly and Caroline Polachek took to the stage with their band at the London Scala on Wednesday night performing to a sold-out crowd who were in anticipation of their every note. From the off, the band whisked the audience away to a world that still thinks Betamax is the next logical step up from VHS, and that the only way to find the best track from an album is to actually listen to all the songs that come before it, or face the frustrating task of fast-forwarding and rewinding the tape for ten minutes to find it.

The last decade has seen a spate of 80’s throwback artists, with musicians and producers the world across trying to dig out old blocky sequencers and drum machines in an attempt to recreate the warmth of an electronic sound that much contemporary electronic music obviously craves so badly. Bands like Kentuckian based, VHS or Beta, with their triggered drum sounds and Robert Smith-style vocals; or more recently, artists like Hospitality and Tennis with their heavily sequenced brand of pop, all striving for that balance between modernity and retro. The decade that produced shoulder-pads and fluorescent shell suits has even infiltrated at a much more mainstream and popular level with bands like Smiths-infused, The Killers reaching global acclaim.

However, not many bands reach for the past and make use of it in an exciting and challenging way that, for contemporary audiences, feels like a true breath of fresh air, from a place that almost feels like home. Chairlift, however, can do this, and at the Scala they proved just how to deliver it live, with each utterance of Polachek’s alluring and luminous voice, supported by a polyphony of dreamlike, incandescent sounds that are dispersed through the band’s multi-layered fabric of programmed beats, syncopated live drums, and 8-bit sounding melodies.

Opening with the introductory track to their sophomore album, ‘Sidewalk Safari’, the crowd became immediately immersed in the illusion of an 80’s utopia offered by Chairlift’s woozy and trancelike sounds. Throughout the set, they capture some of the best of that much-revered era, drawing on the sounds of Blondie, Depeche Mode and the Human League, whilst embracing the best of what’s new, with notable similarities to Baltimore “dream pop” group, Beach House, and the “nu-disco” sounds of College.

Chairlift wandered through a set that embraced album favourites ‘Wrong Opinion’, ‘Amanaemonesia’, and ‘I belong In Your Arms’ – all good songs with fantastic appeal – with intent, and a passion that proved that they are much more than a pastiche of a fad genre. Their arrangements, particularly when delivered live, suggest that they really have a grasp of how to make the most of Polachek’s chamber-like vocals, and cadence. For the most part, the live acoustic drums and bass provided grounding as opposed to the point of rhythmic focus, whereas the sequenced and synth sounds did just the opposite, giving a danceable quality that, as previously mentioned, is nostalgic but fresh.

The juxtaposition between the lower frequencies offered by Chairlift’s sequenced parts and the relatively mid-range bass sound, and the brighter content provided by Polachek’s wispy but impacting vocals, along with a bright synthy backdrop, gives Chairlift a unique dynamic live, which at once roots the audience to the spot with grandiose arrangements, whilst at the same time willing them to sway rigidly and break into a Pat Benatar type shimmy.