WHITE LIES

This fast –rising trios brooding sound features a big dose of Korg magic.

Things have been moving fast for London-based trio White Lies. Just over a year ago, guitarist Harry McVeigh, bassist Charles Cave and drummer Jack Lawrence- Brown were getting nowhere fast, as guitar pop band Fear Of Flying. Then a eureka moment occurred...

One afternoon, the trio departed from their usual way of working and, using a keyboard, pieced together a song called Unfinished Business, which turned out to be radically different to their customary style. They decided the track should be used for a new project under a fresh name. White Lies.

Since then, the band haven’t looked back. Unfinished Business was uploaded onto their MySpace site, went on to pick up a clutch of fairly ecstatic reviews, and quickly sold out when it was released on the tiny Chess Club label last May. The group then signed to Fiction Records and are now on the verge of releasing their debut album, provisionally entitled To Lose My Life Or Lose My Love.

The trio’s brooding indie rock has drawn comparisons to such post-punk icons as Echo And The Bunnymen, Joy Division, and their more keyboardfriendly cousins, The Teardrop Explodes and Tears For Fears. Like those groups, White Lies use synths mainly to texturalise their music.

“The ones we do use are mainly string sounds and are vital to our sound,” explains bassist Charles.

Korg technology plays an important role in the band’s set up, especially the Korg M3 workstation.

“We use it to trigger the more organic sounds that we record ourselves,” Charles explains, “things like bells, organs, guitars, and even a 16 piece string section. We’ve also managed to re-create some sounds we used on our record, like distorted harpsichords and Wurlitzers.”

Unsurprisingly, the Korg M3 plays a large role in the White Lies live show.

“We also use the M3 to house samples and then trigger them in various ways. One of the tracks, Nothing To Give, has an extremely large string section, recorded multiple times, then layered and put through delays, echoes and modulation effects. The M3 will play a huge part in recreating that for us live.”

The band also have a penchant for the M3’s more unique features.

“We use the amp simulators a lot, especially the valve ones,” says Charles.

“We like to crank the gain high to get a nice overdriven sound.”

Charles is certain that White Lies will make increasing use of Korg equipment – they also utilise a microKorg for some bass parts – as the band expands its cinematic sound.

For the heavily-tipped trio and Korg, this could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.