Dark Captain Light Captain

Genre: indie folk post-rock electronic indietronica
Lyrics: Dark Captain Light Captain lyrics

Biography

Dark Captain Light Captain are a six-piece rock group from East London. They are comprised of Dan Carney (guitar, vocals), Giles Littleford (guitar, vocals), Neil Kleiner (electronics, vocals, clarinet), Chin Keeler (drums) , Laura Copsey (brass, vocals) and Michael Cranny (bass, vocals). Their music is influenced by atmospheres, the quest for a killer vocal harmony and a constant desire to make their hearts beat ever so slightly faster than normal.

The sentiment of their songs, which they write about things they feel very strongly about, ranges from malignant and accusatory to wildly optimistic, and they have been compared to Kings Of Convenience, The Beta Band, Elliot Smith, The Violent Femmes and even The Pogues. Outside the band their hobbies include art, fatherhood, reading, writing and walking.

DCLC began life in the long, dark winter of 2006, when Dan and Neil decided to buffer themselves against the plummeting temperatures and ever-darkening evenings by huddling around Neil’s laptop for warmth. Many late-night recording sessions ensued, and the pair – now delirious from a constant stream of strong black coffee, tobacco and self-doubt – decided to upload some of their formative output onto Myspace.

Shortly afterwards, and as a direct result of Dan and Neil’s fearless embracing of Web 2.0, they found themselves standing in a recording studio next to German singer/songwriter Milenasong, and co-writing the song ‘Standby’ which appeared on her ‘Seven Sisters’ album courtesy of respected Berlin independent Monika Enterprises.

Dan and Neil soon began to have conversations which went like this... “do you reckon we should do this properly?”... “yes, I think I do.” As a result of such frenzied exchanges, they soon found themselves playing to appreciative audiences around London and beyond, visiting both Berlin (to play a show with Milena) and Oslo, where they were invited to play at ‘En Droy Uke’, a festival of new experimental music also featuring the likes of Mono, Mi & L’au and Rocket To The Sky.

Next to join the DCLC ranks was Giles Littleford, a long-time friend and drinking buddy whose self-effacing charm belied the devilish glint in his eye and clinical finger-picking guitar style. Hailing from Tanworth-In-Arden, home to the legendary Nick Drake, Giles’ dextrous hands and angelic vocal tones fleshed things out nicely, and that summer saw the newly-minted trio gracing the stage at various venues, churches and warehouses around London as well as the Lovebox Festival in London’s Victoria Park.

A deal with London independent LoAF (offshoot of Lo Recordings) arrived soon after, and November 2007 saw the release of DCLC’s first single – the dark, cascading folk-pop of ‘Jealous Enemies’, backed with ‘Mid-Session Interval’, a gently pensive psych-out which, despite taking its name from snooker, had very little to do with any particular sport.

The single received plenty of attention from US college radio and sold a fair few as well. But Dan, Neil and Giles all felt that their efforts could benefit from a few more pairs of hands. So in March 2008, after being presented with a reasonable pension plan, free gym membership and the prospect of an interest-free season ticket loan, Laura, Mike and Chin (ex-drummer of legendary London indie types Quickspace) were quickly enticed into the DCLC fold. So far, the new set-up (which the band are fond of describing as “muscular”) have appeared at 93 Ft East, Shoreditch Church and the Indig02, supporting Sheffield post-rockers 65daysofstatic.

The ‘Circles’ EP came in June 2008 and received radio support from the likes of Zane Lowe, Rob da Bank (Radio 1), Mark Radcliffe (Radio 2) and John Kennedy (Xfm). The band were said to be ‘happy’ about this.

‘Miracle Kicker’ is the debut album from DCLC. It is due in October 2008. Co-produced by Robin Proper-Sheppard (The God Machine, Sophia) it showcases the band’s penchant for spine-tingling harmonies, electronic drones, gently picked folksy guitar and huge psychedelic endings. There’s quite a bit of piano on there as well. They like it very much and hope you do too.

http://www.darkcaptain.com / http://www.myspace.com/darkcaptain

Management: Pete Spiby (hbf@southbysowhat.com)

Label: Udi Radomsky (udi@hub100.com)

Similar artist: Uzi & Ari Seagull The Middle East Savoir Adore Lackthereof