Wings of Desire

“A bit like if Bruce Springsteen had a mid-’80s Jesus And Mary Chain phase” Stereogum 
 
”Wings of Desire cite the '00s indie scene and '80s Factory Records as primary influences and you can definitely hear a little New Order (but also a little Springsteen)” Brooklyn Vegan 
 
“Now Hear This” The Independent | "Wings Of Desire craft dazed pop jewels" CLASH 
 
“Uplifting” DIY | “freefalling, expansive indie” DORK 

UK duo Wings of Desire - AKA James Taylor and Chloe Little - release two new singles, ‘Angels’ / ‘Better Late Than Never’ today. They’re taken from forthcoming debut anthology release Life Is Infinite - out December 8th, which will be celebrated with a sold out show at Third Man Records in London on December 7th. These are 13 notes and reflections on the human experience. Everything here is temporary but life is infinite. 
 
‘Angels’ sees Chloe take on lead vocals. Enveloping the listener in glacial beauty it’s a wintry shoegaze inflected track. On this single, and accompanying track ‘Better Late Than Never’ - the duo offer: 

‘Angels’: “Can you feel the cosmic wave crashing down timelines that no longer serve us? The ethereal and real finally merge into our collective dreamscape and help us paint a better world and re-shape our celestial future.  

We’re falling down like angels.“ 

'Better Late Than Never': “In the west, we are ingrained to think getting older is a bad thing. 

In the east ageing is championed and seen as an opportunity to gain great insight and wisdom.  

The song is about letting go and allowing time to take you on a grand journey of self discovery, and finding empowerment in all the life experience you have gained.  

We need to find the transcendent in a world rooted in constant change and destruction. Otherwise we risk being washed ashore.”  
 
Operating at the intersection between pensive reflection and brash catharsis, Wings of Desire’s gritty dream-pop aims to resolve on a life-affirming beat. Unafraid to look beneath the stone and observe an underworld of destructive social tendencies, there is nonetheless an optimism that things can be different.  
 
The project is born out of questions that may never be answered. James and Chloe draw inspiration from the seminal music of early noughties NYC, Factory Records and Krautrock as well as the philosophies of 20th century thinkers and futurists as Alan Watts, Noam Chomsky and Wim Wenders.  

In a sonic sense, they zero in on a particular lived experience as a key catalyst:  

“We were inspired by a trip to Berlin where we visited the legendary Hansa studios, and got drunk at Neues Ufer.”  

The former guildhall’s iconic acoustics and enviable thread of musical history (at times the haunt of David Bowie, Brian Eno, Iggy Pop and more) makes a perfect spiritual home for the band’s transcendent command of sound and emotion. 

This approach saw Wings Of Desire selected for tours supporting Brooklyn indie darlings Nation of Language in 2022, and Bleach Lab in 2023, and backing from Steve Lamacq and Lauren Laverne on BBC 6 Music, NME Radio, and John Kennedy on Radio X; and Stereogum, PASTE, Brooklyn Vegan, Under The Radar, The Line Of Best Fit, DIY, CLASH, DORK, The Independent and more at press.