Charlie Looker: guitar, male voice
Travis Laplante: keyboards, tenor sax, EWI
Caley Monahon-Ward: violin
Tony Gedrich: bass
Nick Podgurski: drums, percussion
Influences
Swans, Arthur Russell, Guillame de Machaut, John Coltrane, Luigi Nono, Steeleye Span, Louis Andriessen, Cocteau Twins, gregorian chant, Georgian polyphony, Morton Feldman, Morrissey, Justin K Broadrick, Steely Dan, Bach, Shudder to Think, Depeche Mode, Phillip Glass, Converge, Neurosis, Shirley Collins, Hildegard von Bingen, Scott Walker
"Every so often there's a record so accomplished that it makes most albums of its type sound ridiculous, and Secular Works is one of those … Remarkable for its scope, depth and technical accomplishment, Secular Works is a devastating record that has the power to change minds, if only people hear it. Don't miss out.” - Dusted Magazine
“In Extra Life, Looker taps into a mesmerizing form of avant-rock raga, repeating words, and shifting into a windswept, entrancing post-punk throat singing … The first song to catch our attenton is opener "Blackmail Blues," which hit us like a darker, heavier take on Dirty Projectors (backed by Torch Of The Mystics Sun City Girls) … these are master works. The album itself is called Secular Works, but this stuff feels somehow religious in its fervor." - Stereogum
“ ... scarily focused and ruthlessly complex in a post-prog sort of way, but it also flirts with a dark, sumptuous art-pop vibe. The end product is relentless, enveloping and frequently gorgeous." - Time Out New York
"Tension and restraint. Adornment and shedding. These are the balances that define Extra Life’s fantastic full-length debut, Secular Works … Looker’s sense of arrangement and composition melds each sound into a gripping work where fear and urgency loom within each track … It creates an aesthetic so grave and completely realized that it’s with the best sense of anxiety that I anticipate where Extra Life goes next.” - Tiny Mixtapes
“Precision bone-crushing … I realize this may sound like hyperbole, but have you seen this band? Go, then decide if I’m exaggerating.” - Impose Magazine
"... a deep, dark, tremendous record... nihilistic, destructive, but utterly captivating. Highly recommended." - Rave Magazine
"Wildly ambitious and utterly unique, Secular Works is a challenging but compulsive listen, as utterly incomprehensible as it is undeniably immediate. It offers an extraordinarily multi-faceted experience, perfectly pitched between welcoming, ancestrally familiar communal song and alienating, willfully abstruse constructions.” - The Quietus
Alright, somebody needs to post video footage of "School Shooting"! I'm on the west coast and well, i couldn't fly out to see it. Damn, i know I'm missing out! Anybody? Photos? Charlie, will this be released someday?
Do you remember me. We met in Gent after the gig in the video. We had a conversation outside. I like the cd's that you gave me very much. I was very excited when I walked jome. Hope to see Extra Life or one of the sideproject in Belgium soon! Sorry that I waited so long to write a reaction.
Please come to Chicago! The Empty Bottle would be a fantastic place for you to play. And when can I buy Secular Works in the U.S.? I've been looking for it EVERYWHERE!!!
