To Lose My Life
Geffen
By Eileen Tilson
White Lies, a band made up of a trio of school mates, are quickly
selling out dates in the U.K., as well as parts of Canada and the U.S., and have been gathering
steam since as early as summer of 2008 – quickly becoming a buzzed about band
playing festivals across the globe, appearing over here in the music press after
only a few of their earlier scheduled showcase US dates were run aground, and
just last month becoming the cover darlings of the NME who proclaimed them to be
among "the new dark stars painting indie black."
Enlisting the help
of Ed Buller (Suede, Pulp) and Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, The Killers,
and Smashing Pumpkins) White Lies naturally follows the sound of '80s goth-pop,
with Harry McVeigh's voice resonating a mix between The Cure's Robert Smith and
The Killer's Brandon Flowers. The title track off the band's debut CD, "To Lose My Life," is
an '80s dance playlist favorite, easily indistinguishable between bands like Joy
Division or Depeche Mode, although probably preferred by the modern indie crowd
because of its updated sound.
The subject matter
is dark, filled with suicide, self-harm, hospitals and funerals, and although
McVeigh fashions himself a romantic poet, tortured by life, White Lies are an
easy fill in for England's answer for Interpol, and will likely be seen on a
compilation CD in the near future. For the time being though, I will still be
head-bobbing along with everyone else.
