London Grammar

So.

This is about a band called London Grammar.

They are three young people who met in their freshmen year of college and started playing music together <in 2009 I think>.

In December 2012 <which would have made them college juniors> they posted a song “Hey Now” –  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTvHcQmKUpU  – on YouTube <as of the date of this writing it has received 2,217,203 views>.

Uhm.

Well.

If you happen to listen to this song … I will bet all the money I have that you will not believe it is a 19 year old singer.

Yikes.

What a voice. This girl has a husky set of pipes.

Kind of like Florence <of Florence and the Machine> … but better. Maybe a stronger voiced Hope Sandoval <Mazzy Star> would be an appropriate comparison because this music has that same kind of dark ethereal sound to it as Mazzy Star.

London Grammar’s music has been described as “a blend of ambient, ethereal and classical sounds” with sparse Cure-like guitar, heavy somber vocals and brooding thoughtful lyrics.

I will say that their songs are beautifully, if sparsely, constructed and all their ‘official’ videos are very artistically done.

Hannah Reid, the lead vocal, offers what I can only call ‘brooding vocals’ in every London Grammar song I could find.

And she writes the lyrics “about people who come in and out of my life.”

The song “Wasting My Young Years” which I include in this post was written about her ex-boyfriend.

The Economist review: “Though London Grammar aren’t the first act to replicate the xx’s understated beats, the Nottingham-formed trio differ from their peers in employing a singer – Hannah Reid – who could be a British Stevie Nicks from the folk-rock scene of the mid-1970s.”

Anyway.

You will either love this music or hate this music.

I seriously doubt there will be any inbetween.

Here are a couple of songs I liked a lot:

Wasting my Young Years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkeDBwsIaZw

Strong: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6drfp_3823I

Lastly.

A cover song. Nightcall <originally by   a band called Kavinsky … and that version is dark electronica>.

Nightcall cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZYw0MQp_fI

I like this band.

I will be very interested to see what they do and create as they get older.