Hailing from Liverpool, Screaming Lights is the indie quartet of James Treadell (vocals, guitar, synth, piano, lyrics), Max Goldberg (lead guitar, synth), Alan Breen (bass), and James Connor (drums). The band bears the same relation to White Lies, Repeater, and Red Light Company as those new bands do to Editors, as they did to Interpol, as those Americans did to Joy Division, The Chameleons, and the rest of the black-clad flock of the early ’80s. In that sense, if you can live with the lack of originality and fancy some dark indie rock, then you’ll have a field day joining the dots and drawing straight lines between Screaming Lights and their gloom-rock forebears.
After supporting the likes of Mystery Jets, Vampire Weekend, and The Music without having a single physical release, the band finally came out with a couple of bombastic singles that earned them a slot at Reading and Leeds Festivals on the BBC Introducing Stage. Their debut album Like Angels was released on 5 October 2009 and its overdriven guitars, menacing basslines, and angst-soaked dolorous baritone vocals prove that these lads shouldn’t be dismissed as mere indie landfill fodder. Check them out.