Edinburgh based band, Capitals, brings moody electronic music that fools you into thinking it's a pop song. It's addictive and catchy, the kind of music you leave on repeat for a few hours thinking deep thoughts and contemplating your next big life decision. It's deep, it's dark, and we really quite love it. We got a chance to ask Angus and Keir some questions, and these Scottish lads gave us some answers.
What bands did you guys listen to growing up and did they influence this current album?
Angus: We actually started out having pretty varied tastes, and probably still do. The first music I really got into as a youngster was things like early Weezer and Radiohead, then later through my brother and sister weirder things like Tortoise, Kid Loco and Nick Drake. Somehow a lot of that more sombre stuff still influences my writing now. Some of our new songs have definitely drawn comparisons to Radiohead in the production which I do see, but I think we come from a different angle in songwriting.
Keir: I listened to a lot of "I.D.M" whilst growing up. Guys like Squarepusher, Aphex or Boards of Canada, were pretty influential in the way I write music today. As above, I'd say it was our mutual respect for bands like Radiohead Moderat probably had something to do with this double a side.
Have you ever been to the US? What are your favorite US Bands?
Angus: Neither of us have ever been to the US actually, but it's weird how the influence of US music has filtered in. I'd put The Walkmen up there as one of my favourite US bands, I think they have an incredible knack of creating entire worlds inside their songs. I also have a lot of respect for Modest Mouse, Sun Kil Moon, David Bazan and more out there acts like Animal Collective.
Keir: I would love to go to New York, it looks like an incredible place. Difficult to choose my favorite US band cos there are so many!
The first band that comes to mind is Telefon Tel Aviv, so I'll go with them!
How did the band come together?
We're both originally from the north of Scotland, which is a pretty remote, often bleak place for youngsters. We both went to university a couple of years back, and I remember going to see a solo show Keir played with his old project Araya. I loved the music, it was like a glitch version of DJ Shadows Entroducing or something, and I knew after that I wanted to form a band, and then we got together in Edinburgh where we'd both moved.
Pick one YouTube video that sums up the band.
How would you describe your sound?
Angus: There's some of the Warp Records/Border Community blueprint that informs core things in our production, but musically there's more going on now. I think our sound draws on a lot of genres, from IDM and glitch to indie rock and post rock. Whereas the music pushes in a lot of directions, I've always been influenced by quite a direct approach to lyric writing, and records like Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon' and David Bazan's 'Headphones' have been two big influences for me. I'd describe it as a meeting point between production-heavy dance music and something more organic.
What are your plans for 2012?
Angus: We're getting ready to drop our first official single, a double A-side of 'Jealousy' and 'Sinking Ships' on March 12th. This will be the first of a series of three double A-sides to come out in the first half of 2012, and all will be available digitally through the usual sources, and physical copies direct from us. We've also pretty much finished our record, but are holding that back a little while.
Keir: I think all of the above, and a lot more shows! We'd both like to get back to Europe again, and ideally the U.S. For now we're just focussing on putting on these next few singles.
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