Guildford-based indie band {satellite-state} offer a sweeping soundtrack that points to a future awash with festival headline slots with songs unashamedly epic in tone.
- Genre: indie / alternative / pop rock
- Ryann Nicks (drums / vocals / synths), Ciaran Stephens (guitar / vocals), Gary Nicks (vocals / acoustic guitar), Will Gray (piano), Ian Cooke (bass)
- Sounds like: Puressence / Death Cab For Cutie / Snow Patrol
- Home: Guildford, UK
- {satellite-state}
Making Epic Respectable Again
The word epic tends to be bandied around quite a bit where indie music is concerned; to a degree, it's certainly an apt description. No one could deny that something like Run from Snow Patrol isn't epic; Drugs Or Me from Jimmy Eat World is another; whilst Puressence's seven minute classic Gazing Down could claim to have been what epic was invented for.
Sometimes, though, it's a lazy get-out by a writer - if it has a building guitar track and harmonies running through it, let's call it epic. And this is a shame – it's now become such an overused word that when a band that genuinely writes epic songs come along, you're loathe to actually describe them as epic for fear you're sounding clichéd. However, with {satellite-state}, no other word is better suited to a band than epic is to this one.
The Niche Effect
Starting to receive quite a bit of critical attention in the UK, with such luminaries as erstwhile Radio 1 indie DJ's Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens both singing their praises, {satellite-state} write songs that are honest, heartfelt and yes, epic. Now in their second year, they have successfully managed to meld a sound that's at once familiar yet unique; think Coldplay without Chris Martin taking centre stage, throw in a little pinch of Puressence guitar, and mix it all together with Death Cab For Cutie, and you'll have a pretty good idea.
Any band that can get such positive media attention on the strength of a demo CD has to have something special about them, and {satellite-state} have this in abundance with every one of their songs. Get On is an outstanding introduction to the band – all lo fi guitars, smooth vocals and inspirational chords bringing to mind the very best that indie has to offer, all in one uplifting beast of a track.
From Guildford To Glastonbury?
Letting Go is more down-tempo, but no less intense for it. With eerie guitar looping over and over, it evokes Snow Patrol's classic Run, yet never sounds too similar to be a lazy copy – more the natural evolution of how Snow Patrol might have sounded if Final Straw hadn't been such a phenomenal success.
Carry Your Own Weight has been one of the songs that's been getting the British press so excited. A semi acoustic ballad that introduces electric guitar to such dramatic effect, at just under six minutes it's been described as "a song fit for festivals, complete with lighters and hands held aloft" (Bandidge.com), and that's a fairly good assessment. It's tracks like this where {satellite-state} lay down the mark for epic indie.
A Maelstrom Of Emotion
Yet it's the stunningly haunting All Too Soon which, if there's any justice in the world, will see the band reach the dizzy heights so afforded to Coldplay and Snow Patrol. A beautiful, emotionally charged track, you can't fail but to be hypnotised by its almost Celtic-like swagger, and surely a future classic in the making.
With their debut single due to be released in the summer, and a tour planned for the next three months, {satellite-state} are about to be unleashed – make sure you get caught up in the maelstrom that should follow.
