Hot Chip, Gardens & Villa, Inspired and the Sleep [monday Threesome]

For this week’s Monday Threesome, we present three bands that appreciate the value of a particular woodwind instrument — the flute. Don’t worry, this isn’t the same flute found in high school marching bands. This is the flute currently inspiring new sounds within the indie music community. In honor of Hot Chip’s new album and current single, aptly titled “Flutes”, we found two additional bands that are manipulating this woodwind instrument in exciting new ways. Given the flute’s pretty limited use in indie music, we want to give a nod to these bands who are focusing on what’s unique rather than what blends with the crowd.

Our inspiration for this post, “Flutes”, is taken from Hot Chip’s (@hot_chip) forthcoming album In Our Heads set for release on Domino Records June 12th. Though this indie-electronic band isn’t known for their use of the flute, this new track is based around a flute sample, and, according to a Pitchfork interview with band member Joe Goddard, the song drew inspiration from a two-note flute melody in James Holden’s remix of “The Sky Was Pink”. The song is just under eight minutes in length and pairs the sample with pounding percussion, vocals and danceable synths. Hot Chip also recently released a video for the song, featuring a non-stop spinning camera in their London studio. Motion sickness aside, this is a stellar track and a unique example of how bands are no longer shying away from this delicate instrument.

Black Hills – Gardens & Villa

Orange Blossom - Gardens & Villa

No band deserves a spot on this list more than Gardens & Villa (@gardensandvilla). Lead singer Chris Lynch has mesmerized unsuspecting music fans at shows all over the country with his assortment of bamboo flutes. Expertly combining Lynch’s falsetto voice, his woodwind expertise and instrumentation from his four band mates (percussion, synth, bass and background vocals), Gardens & Villa produce a crisp, synth-pop sound that’s quite incomparable to other bands in the current indie-pop scene. Gaining traction with their incredible live performances, this year the band has already opened for The Shins and Fanfarlo and recently played Coachella. We love the boys from Gardens & Villa so much that we filmed a Honey I’m Home session with the band in late 2011.  Check it out here.

Inspired and the Sleep (@insprdandtheslp), a San Diego based trio, spend their days lifeguarding sandy beaches and their nights composing uplifting, loop-based lo-fi/pop. The trio includes Max Greenhalgh, aka the Eyelid Kid (bass, vocals), Hayden Stewart (drums), and Bryce Outcault (guitar, keys). Drawing comparisons to Yellow Ostrich for their vocal style, tUnE-yArDs for their loop-based artistry and Vampire Weekend for their upbeat rock-pop sound, Inspired and the Sleep is a great example of how a loop-based artist can take advantage of varied instrumentation (including the flute) and vocal styles.  Watch Greenhalgh in the video below as he begins the band’s new song, “Sink”, with the flute and trades it for  recording different looped-instruments throughout.