"Insect Guide; from Leeds, they're one boy and one girl and one laptop, but this is no cold machine music, this is gorgeous space pop whose beautiful boy-girl harmonies and gossamer melodies sparkle as if grunge, Britpop and the last 15 years in general never happened. Half close your eyes and the dark-haired, black-clothed duo could even be half of My Bloody Valentine or even The Velvet Underground. Singer Su hits a floor drum almost in slow motion like Bobby Gillespie in the young Jesus & Mary Chain playing at being Mo Tucker and a line is drawn through three generations. Somewhere in the midst of all this a familiar line or two slips out; and like the shoegazers finally getting the last laugh over the American alt-rockers many years down the line, Dinosaur Jr's "Freakscene" is rendered in slow motion, fuzzed up and starry-eyed and strangely moving." MANCHESTERMUSIC.
Formed in Leeds in late 2005, Insect Guide – Su Sutton and Stan Howells
– have been sending ripples through the musical underground ever since
thanks to their distinctive brand of dark, cinematic pop.
After two years of intensive activity – songwriting, gigging,
recording, and filming – Insect Guide's debut album, 6ft in Love,
appeared on Leeds' Dead Penny Records in October 2007. Uniquely, the
release included not just a CD, but also a DVD of self-produced videos
for each and every track. Sometimes bizarre and disturbing, sometimes
gentle and reflective, the videos complemented the music perfectly;
fans of the band's immersive, audio-visual live shows would have
expected no less.
An Uncut magazine 'Debut of the Month', 6ft in Love attracted reviews
that ranged from the enthusiastic to the near-ecstatic. Subba-Cultcha
described it as 'a beautiful and idiosyncratic pop album'; Drowned in
Sound called it 'an irresistible pop masterpiece... as dark as the most
potent Velvet Underground'. Elsewhere, the album drew favourable
comparisons to The Jesus and Mary Chain, Slowdive and My Bloody
Valentine.
6ft in Love was followed in January 2008 by a limited EP featuring
remixes of two tracks by Sonic Boom (Spacemen 3/Spectrum). The CD
quickly sold out.
The first half of 2008 saw the Insects gigging heavily in support of
both releases, supporting the likes of Ulrich Schnauss and Maps. A
mini-tour of the USA in March was followed by appearances in Norway and
Poland. Meanwhile, the band's profile in the UK was raised by the
unexpected appearance of their cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s 'Freakscene' –
originally given away free at gigs – on Radio 1's Steve Lamacq show and
in the pages of the NME ('an amazing cover of Dinosaur Jr.'s finest
moment').
In late 2008 – with the Sonic Boom remix of 'Frozen' finding a whole
new audience on Northern Star Records' groundbreaking Psychedelica
Three compilation – Insect Guide began gigging and recording with
drummer Chris Cooper, of 4AD legends The Pale Saints. The result is a
new batch of songs that show Insect Guide, far from struggling to
follow their debut, are just hitting their stride: still darkly
atmospheric, still multi-layered, still beautifully crafted – but
louder, more direct, and more unashamedly 'pop'.
Insect Guide are currently in the studio putting the finishing touches
to their new album...
- Greg Owens 2009
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“accessible and joyously barbed pop songs” - UNCUT (debut of the month)
"an irresistible pop masterpiece" - DROWNED IN SOUND
“a beautiful and idiosyncratic pop album” - SUBBA-CULTCHA
Amazing cover of Dinosaur Jrs finest moment, slowed down and pumped full of mogadon" - NME
“recalls the likes of Slowdive and The Mary Chain at their most subtle and brutal” - CONTACTMUSIC
"sparkingly produced, beautifully written" - SOMEWERECOLD.COM
"beautiful, and sometimes sinister" - LEEDS GUIDE
"pure stratospheric fuzz-pop bliss" - SUBBA-CULTCHA.COM
“as dark as the most potent Velvet Underground” - DROWNED IN SOUND
Hi Su & Stan 8) Love the new tracks.. really looking forward to hearing the whole album now. And hopefully you can bring Chris with you to Oslo sometime.
thanks for the listen, su...we've done some more runthroughs and have added more percussion and guitar. i'll let you know when we get the new version up. cheers! collin
Bonjour Thanks for the friendly add and message (I find you on factory kids page) I like your musical universe and you so good sound really appreciate your music Best wishes from France Pascal
hi there, i just can't stop listening your songs! "Touch me" is my favorite, i d really like to be present at one of your gigs in a near future. Thanks for your music! U-Dream
