Indie bands are hardly ever the talk of the town, but for Amos, Iowa's The Envy Corps that has been the case for several years. With such talk increasing volume over the years about the flourishing talent, Vertigo Records from England finally stepped in to ink the foursome and pull them across the pond.
After inhabiting Streatham outside of London for a year, the group released Dwell this year. Since this was initially an international release, many potential fans outside of the U.K. weren't able to hear their new melodic upturn. This revamped semi-depressing shoe-gaze to a rock-embedded sound that gets nerves twitching and feet tapping finally landed in the U.S. in July.
Inserting a sense of movement into each song through the constant presence of a stringy electric guitar and the stretching vocals of Luke Pettipoole, The Envy Corps don't shy away from letting the instruments tell a song's message. The imagination in each of their songs allows this ambient atmosphere to lay a solid foundation for a group that categorizes themselves as zouk.
Along with Pettipoole, The Envy Corps use the skills of Scott Yoshimura (drums), Brandon Darner (guitar) and Micah Natera (keyboards), while bassist Ross Vander Werf joins on the road. They are currently recording and self-producing at Soundfarm Studios with the help of Matt Sepanic. Tour dates for early 2009 will be announced shortly on their web page.
Before Dwell, the group released Story Problem (2007), Love Letters (2006) and Soviet Reunion (2004). The mp3 below is off of Dwell.
MP3: The Envy Corps - Wires and Wool (buy)
Labels: The Envy Corps