CHAIRLIFT

Chairlift is an electro-pop band from America. Their Indie-folk roots are in Brooklyn, NY. Members of the band are Aaron Pfenning ( songwriter/vocals/electronics/guitar ), Patrick Wimberly ( drums/bass/keyboard/production ), and Caroline Polachek ( songwriting/vocals/tambourine/synthesizer ). Caroline was an art student, Aaron was majoring in art and Patrick was a jazz student. The band formed as a project between Aaron and Caroline, at the University of Colorado, October 2005. Their original idea was to make background music for haunted houses. Along with bassist, Kyle McCabe, they recorded the beginning of their self-released album, "Daylight Savings", at New Monkey Studio, in LA, California in April of 2006. In August 2006, they re-located to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and signed to Kanine Records in 2007. Their song "Bruises ", was featured in the 2008 commercial for the fourth generation iPod Nano. Their re-location deepened their concentration between honesty and irony, strange and familiar, modern and vintage, and anonymity and communion.

“I think our dream is to be the first band to play a concert on Mars,” states Aaron of Brooklyn-based trio Chairlift. “The problem is Patrick won’t go, he’s afraid of space.” Drummer Patrick agrees that any intergalactic gigs would have to be without his percussion section, “I’m afraid of heights and space so I’m going to stay on planet Earth my entire life.”

Chairlift's debut album, " Does You Inspire You", is an appetizing mix of the childlike, eerie, and spacey, with an underlying creepiness mixed in. Caroline’s honeyed vocals fluctuate between hushed sweetness and impassioned wails. Some tracks feature space-rock synths, computer game beeps and beats that click and tick. Others have country melodies or thumping bass, all of which melt into an intriguing sound that’s hard to pin down, but at the same time strikingly recognizable. The band members are a mixture of timidity and enthusiasm with an undertone of mischief. Caroline and Aaron always have chains and initials emblazoned up their arms drawn with permanent markers. Aaron sports a faded design that says "Totally True".

In the band’s early days, Caroline and Aaron’s practice sessions would descend into the realm of the strange and unusual, which inspired plans for the haunted house tour. “We came up with everything,” says Aaron, “except we didn’t actually do it.” These early sessions slipped into their debut, but Caroline cites the source of their underlying creepy vibe as a juxtaposition between things that are supposed to be comforting but aren’t and things that are very normal. Modern life is part of the mix of influences. " Earwig Town" is a skin crawling exploration of surveillance and the your-call-may-be-recorded aspect of everyday life. " Garbage" is a reflection on the re-use and recycling of the band’s home state, Colorado. Despite their move to Brooklyn, human waste is still an inspiring notion. Caroline says the idea of all our garbage sitting in a landfill longer than we’ll even be alive was actually kind of a beautiful idea. And it's kind of like the real tombstone we leave behind, it’s beautiful in that kind of normal/creepy way that she likes.


" Bruises" may have elicited a surge of interest in the band, with some fans attending gigs only for that song, but Chairlift find that reaction humorous. Aaron had even compiled a screen-shot collection of online comments referring to it. Thirteen-year-old girls write, they only like " Bruises" and the rest of the album is just ok. Patrick says he’s happy with how quickly people have gotten into the band’s music as a whole, though. With their popularity on the rise, Chairlift’s thoughts turn to a new album. Tracks are being composed and the band is excited about taking on a production role. They’re even thinking about recording in the desert. Before that though, they have a heavy touring schedule to complete. Mars may not be on the tour yet, but Caroline is still looking skywards.