CHAMPS, brothers Michael and David Champion emerged from the Isle of Wight in 2014 clutching their debut album ‘Down Like Gold’. The siblings’ love of alt-pop and melodic heartbreak combined with passionate and persuasive harmonies saw them beautifully out of sync in terms of what else was going on around them. Signed to Play It Again Sam, the album was showered with plaudits, picking up plenty of radio support, whilst accompanied by mutual musical friends, the brother’s made their first foray onto the London live circuit with series of what were to become all-too-rare live shows.
Keen to keep to their promise of releasing two albums in twelve months, CHAMPS decamped to London in the Autumn of 2014, hooking up with producer Dimitri Tikovoi (Goldfrapp, Placebo) to write and record what was to evolve into VAMALA, a thus far definitive CHAMPS record, beautifully rendered, racked with melancholy, undeniably personal and rooted in love. Once again received with approval on its release in February 2015, spawning several singles not least the title track – a wave of yearning heartfelt, melancholia soaring into uplifting pop chorus, underpinned with an ever-present fragility.
The past twelve months has seen CHAMPS lying low, spending time between London and the Isle of Wight, embarking on numerous surfing escapades including four months travelling throughout SE Asia whilst all the while writing new material. Looking to get into the studio to begin work in earnest as they prepare for chapter three, the brothers recently played a low-key London show flagging up several new tracks that certainly bodes well in the CHAMPS camp for whatever materialises over the coming months.
TASTING NOTES:
Reminds us of… Field Music, Editors, Future Islands, Phoenix, Gengahr
This is a standing show.
