Stricken City – Pull the House Down
Stricken City - Songs About People I Know
I first heard this band by accident when I saw them playing a double-headliner event with Fanfarlo at The ICA in June and was intrigued. The venue is great, but not exactly personal unless you’re right at the front (where I nearly melted trying to watch Fanfarlo, it was that hot, and had to move towards the back), so I was happy to go again when I found out they were playing at The Monarch a few weeks later.
To say they’re energetic on stage would be an understatement – vocalist Rebekah Raa (were her parents planning in advance for her indie-music career?… if that’s her real name) was jumping around, climbing on speakers and, if memory serves, even (affectionately) whacked guitarist Iain Pettifer over the head mid-song at one point.
The first comparisons that came to mind when I heard them were Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Howling Bells – they have a similar upbeat, female-fronted indie vibe but they do have their own individual style as well.
Their new mini-album ‘Songs About People I Know’ is due to be released this October on Puregroove Records in the UK and they’ll be playing a free Pure Groove In-Store on 2nd October in honour of the occasion. Several tunes up on the MySpace, my favourite of which is:
Stricken City – Pull the House Down
I also really like ‘Bardou’ and ‘Lost Art’, especially.
Free download of new song ‘Don’t Spit At Her Face’ from their website in exchange for an e-mail address and you can also pre-order the “glorious CD/DVD package” of an album from there.
