Lifts

Dubin avantgarde post-punks Lifts are pleased to reveal their new single ‘Wrapped Up’ which is set for release on 13th October 2023.

In support of the single, Lifts will embark on their debut headline tour dates from late October to November, which will see them take their thrilling live show to UK audiences for the first time - tickets are on sale now (see below for listings).

Commenting on the new track, vocalist Sam Bradshaw said: "’Wrapped Up’ is a call to arms for us to break free of our self-repression; to be our fullest, most liberated selves so that we might realise our potential to create a vibrant future. The ties we bind around desire leave us wrapped up in knots, and this song calls out for the kind of love that is only possible after you have stripped away all pretence and truly opened yourself up to the world in an act of radical honesty and vulnerability."

Lifts is the product of close friendships which predate the formation of the band. Some members are childhood friends, while others met at house parties, and others met studying music at college. Their first encounters included introductions to vermouth, debates about the status of yams, intoxicated jazz sessions, and a dedication to an all-too-persistent presence in each others' lives. Coming together to make music was something which initially seemed like it could put pressure on those relationships, but it has only brought them closer.

Beginning in Dublin under the imposed isolation of lockdown, Lifts undertook an already open-minded approach to songwriting based on layered and varied instrumentation. Their 2022 debut EP Evergrowing, Overflowing is a record of those relatively humble beginnings. However, in the process of preparing their material for live performance, and with the assembly of a fixed lineup, a brand new and exciting sound began to emerge.

Electronically augmented violins, jazz drumming, passionate vocals, expressive piano, and intricate guitar work are all interwoven on Lifts' tightly constructed songs, which take as much inspiration from jazz and contemporary classical music as they do from folk song and post punk. Each of the members of the five-piece bring a different musical background to the table, and the band list late-period Talk Talk, Lankum, Can, Charles Mingus, and Arvo Part among their influences.

Already marking themselves out as one of the Irish music scene’s most exciting and forward-thinking new acts, one of the key elements of Lifts' unique sound is their "subharmonic viola", which makes its recorded debut on new single ‘Wrapped Up’ (first entering at the 1:05 mark) and is played by Clara Webster, granddaughter of The Dubliners‘ Ciarán Bourke.

The subharmonic viola has been designed by the band and performs bass duties in their expansive  arrangements. The instrument is played beneath the chin like a normal viola but, thanks to its physical modifications and electronic processing, it produces room-shaking bass frequencies which see Lifts blurring the line between the classical and experimental, as well as the synthetic and organic.

The instrument came together as a result of their shared appreciation for the bass tones of electronic music, and at a time in their lives when the pandemic and its associated welfare payments provided the opportunity for risky experimental purchases that might not pan out. Thankfully the subharmonic viola has become a defining feature of Lifts' sound.

Based around a viola body, but strung with discontinued Sensicore 'octave strings' that are made of special density material in order to produce sound in the cello range, the instrument is then fitted with a piezo pickup and run through the subharmonic synthesis circuit of the DOD Meatbox. The chip in the circuit that performs the sound-processing was initially designed in the ‘80s to make the kicks of dance tracks hit harder on the sound systems at clubs. The resulting sound when Webster's instrument is run through the circuit is like that of an incredibly expressive, organic synthesiser. The bowed sound of the octave viola strings with their constantly shifting harmonics are the perfect foundational element for treatment with subharmonic synthesis.

"It's not an instrument that I feel I have full control over,” says Webster of her experience playing the experimental design. “Compared to any other instrument I've played, it's more unpredictable and can seem to have a mind of its own. The notes will ring out differently every time I play. The octave strings really push the limit of what's actually possible from the viola and from myself physically dragging the bow across them, but that's what helps it to be something new. Sometimes it can feel like a fight with the instrument and sometimes it can feel like a dance. When I'm coming through the subs of a good PA in a venue and it's shaking the room, I can feel very powerful being the source of that. Sound engineers tend to underestimate the intensity of my sound when we arrive at a venue with violins and violas and we always get a kick out of their shock when they actually hear me for the first time."

The band’s rigorous gigging schedule has seen them make a strong impression at sold-out shows across their home country and helped them land support slots with the likes of established high-profile acts such as Robocobra Quartet and rising stars like Chalk.

With their sights firmly set on taking their music from their native Ireland to wider audiences over the next year, ‘Wrapped Up’ serves to lay down the trajectory the quintet intend to follow in the coming months with a series of follow-up singles to be released throughout 2024.

New single ‘Wrapped Up’ is released 13th October 2023