Song of the Day: FAIRCHILD - Dancer

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Dancer” by FAIRCHILD from the 2013 self-titled self-released EP.

FAIRCHILD - Dancer (MP3)

Initially formed in 2005 as Fairchild Convention, Gold Coast's FAIRCHILD create unabashedly grand, electronic rock music that evokes the current generation of UK stadium stars. Although the then-quintet started the band in school, frequent touring of their home country led to the now-sexted becoming the boys' main focus. Although they produced some recordings in 2010, the band decided to reinvent themselves as FAIRCHILD, producing a three-track EP with fellow Australian Catherine Marks behind the boards that found the band exploring stadium-sized textures not unlike the ones that Muse and the Killers successfully mined in the mid-00s. Although "Dancer" isn't a straight-up banger, it's atmospheric trance evokes the same rhythmic thrill through an emotional push and pull. Over soft synthesizers and twinkling, echo-drenched guitars, the band shifts seamlessly from quiet tension building verses to storming choruses, as Lyons' vocals bleed through the mix. Like a fellow group of Aussies who captured the emotional spectrum of a dancefloor a few years ago, "Dancer" is a nuanced, strikingly evocative tune that reveals a little more soul with every synth note.

Fairchild don't have any dates scheduled at the moment, but if they make it up to the Northern Hemisphere, you'll hear about it on their website and Facebook page. For now, watch the stark RICO-directed video for "Dancer" below.