White - New Waves

This year at Brighton’s Great Escape there were two bands that veered completely off the Breaking More Waves radar who seem to have impressed many people who saw them. One was South African quintet Al Bairre, who won over many with their giddying enthusiasm and infectious pop, the other was White, another five piece, but this time from Glasgow.

Rather like Al Barrie, what makes White’s debut track (Future Pleasures) stand out is its energy. Combining a choppy mix of frantic indie disco guitars and a hyperventilating electronic pulse, it’s indebted to the arm of Scotland’s indie lineage that likes to strut on the dance floor; think Orange Juice, Hipsway and Franz Ferdinand as reference points. There’s a hint of The Bravery and LCD Soundsystem in there as well if you listen closely and in another song, Living Fiction, the verses possess the yelp of David Bowie and elements of Roxy Music.

Whilst White might be a new band, they have a past history. Lead singer Leo Condie was previously recording as Low Miffs, whilst other members of the group were in Kassidy, who you may remember, not because of their musical output, but because one of their number (who isn’t in White) was Barrie James O’Neill, the ex-boyfriend of Lana Del Rey. 

White’s name is already getting a small amount of buzz in new music circles, but you won’t find their songs on new music blog aggregator Hype Machine yet. The reason? The band have signed to Sony, who are busy withdrawing all of their artists from Soundcloud, and as they’re only streaming the track through You Tube, that means that Hype Machine can’t pick the music up and potentially stream it to thousands of new music lovers. Let’s hope this decision doesn’t affect the development of fan bases for new emerging acts such as White, in an age where it’s getting harder and harder to break new bands.

White - Future Pleasures