“Influenced by great acts like U2, At the Drive In, Brand New, Radiohead, Cursive, Hot Hot Heat and Coldplay to name a few, We Are Lions is trying something new. Listening to an eclectic variety of music has helped them blossom into a style all their own. This unique style has imaginatively been packaged into what forever will be known as ‘Eight Arms Made This’, to be released April 12 (2005). If you ask any person who goes to a We Are Lions show they will tell you that on stage is where the band truly comes alive. Each member feeds off the music and energy produced under the spotlight, and they work as one message, one yell, one revolution; bringing the audience to the front lines. We Are Lions is a band built on a genuine love for music and their songs portray a wide span of emotions. From the dark, moody vibes of fan-favorite “Coma Casino,” the gentle angst of “The Greco -Roman Goodbye,” to the dance influenced “If Humans had Scorpion Tails” and “Dance Well Parallel,” We Are Lions is able to convey a cornucopia of feelings that everyone can rock to. Excellent.”
To whoever originally wrote that, I apologise. It was directly lifted from the band’s purevolume page and, I feel, sums up the band pretty well. Comparisons to the likes of Brand New and Hot Hot Heat will forever plague this band because they sound like a pretty good mish-mash of both. If Drive Thru signed them (and this is a real cliche I know, and even worse for me to use this analogy because I love Drive Thru…) it would be a perfect match because We Are Lions are a lot better than some of their recent signees, who don’t sound too different. ‘Lovers and Fighters’ sounds great, if a little under-produced, while ‘La Vendetta Dulce’ sounds like Hidden In Plain View but better.
And one we go – ‘If Humans Had Scorpion Tales’ is genuinely interesting with odd time signatures, while ‘Mrs. Modern Home’ has a large dose of The Killers with its synth-tastic sound and three-way vocal attack. It’s very 80s sounding – I like it. Of course it’s not all good and the rather pointless ‘Interlude’ and dull ‘The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World’ are easily skippable. But two out of 12 isn’t all that bad a ratio to be honest. So We Are Lions – you’re a cliched bunch but genuinely good at the same time. Not unique – more an interesting mix of cliched genres – but rather refreshing at the same time. I can see these guys being snapped up at a rather large level, I really can. I doubt they’ll change your life, but they are certainly worth checking out.
www.YouAreALion.com
At One Records
Paul