Luminescence

South London band Neon Highwire impress with indie disco mashup EP. It s really easy to make a dance/rock hybrid sound... You just need to listen to Enter Shikari's latest effort. It seems a lot of bands trying to plug that trade has run out of ideas, and like a lot of genres that hit a successful streak, it all gets a bit clichéd. The same cannot be said for Neon Highwire. Yes, their EP Luminescence isn't massively new, but it does more than enough to make it interesting amongst the rest of the crop. The opening track Neon Blink may leave you a tad underwhelmed, but the second track Don t: Wait does more than enough to make up for its predecessors short comings, with some crazy electro beats been thrown in to keep you on your toes while the indie rock elements of the bands sound seem to take the back seat, almost like a more calculated HORSE The Band song. It's beyond this point you hear the best Neon Highwire have to offer. Creation #4.00 builds up into a complete ... storm of electronic beats and nice guitar riffs, opening up into a nice track, before Under Moonlight entertains. The main event arrives in the form of Isometric View, a haphazard track that kicks and screams with frantic vocals and a catchy guitar line over some nice beats. Akira! ends things fantastically with an enormous climax, and with that, Luminescence proves to be an EP well worth your attention. Yes, it could be better, but the EP is highly ambitious and for that it deserves respect. Neon Highwire are a band worthy of your attention, so make sure you check this infectious EP out as soon as possible. --http://www.dailydischord.com/single.php?p=27189

Without wishing to be crass, retro geared electro is the popular mass-music theme at the moment and as such any band with an extra few quid seem to feel the need to get buzz-s**t together. Unfortunately most of these band's are s**te - Neon Highwire... are not. Admittedly, from what I have garnered from the electro-indie trio thus far, there is a definite dept to the likes of Justice and Bloc Party's last offering as well as other numerous once-indie converts, but when looking around at the moment, that's hardly surprising. Christ, just gawk at the BBC's Sound of 2010 for f**k sake... Although, with a name like Neon Highwire, the potential artistic and genre direction of the band should be fairly clear. Anyhoo, with Luminescense, Neon Highwire have done something slightly different from most electro bands in that they have produced an offering with six original tracks. No remixes, no re-edits, no guest versions; just six new songs. Opening with 'Neon Blink', its buzzsaw synth-lines play opposite sharpened guitars that linger in the air, while brash panicky, strained vocals it below the covers. It is 4 and-a-half minutes of excellent club orientated rock and is a fantastic intro the the EP. Opening with a very 8 bit-esque jam and dark underlying synth, & 'Don't: Wait' threatens to descend into kitsch Gameboy music. It's pairing on those very harsh sounds against synth textures and live instruments as heard in the first track don't quite work on this occasion and to be honest, it probably requires a complete departure into the sharp environment of 8-bit to make this a success. On the other hand 'Creation #4.00' works very well indeed. It's high end synths circulate as heavily compressed kick beats swap blows with square sine sounds. Come the midway point of 'Creation #4.00', the ghostly vocals climax and a fraught rhythm guitar emerges amidst throbbing bass sequences. Quite a thrilling little piece. Unfortunately the six new song ethic doesn't quite hold up to the end, as 'Under Moonlight' and 'Isometric View' are easily the weakest songs on the EP. 'Under Moonlight' starts off like it could be a great A-Side with a nice building verse, but falls down at with chorus that loses weight and collapses weakly. This is more of a production issue than a structure one per se, but is still disappointing nonetheless. On the fifth track, 'Isometric View', the real let down here are the vocals, which sound weak for the first time on the release - they sound forced and don't quite work as a result. It's also the first song where the synth lines begin to feel rather tired and end up sounding rather flat, although the heavy build-up of multi-tracks at the end is rather nice. Finishing Luminescence is 'Akira!'. It is actually rather reminiscent of 'Neon Blink' in terms of structure and feel, but it does contain a good deal more energy - especially towards the latter half of the song. With some inventive remixing and coherent editing, there could be a nice club track in here. Overall, it is not bad effort by Neon Highwire and while it is hardly revolutionary stuff by any stretch of the imagine, it's definitely worth a listen. Good stuff. Rating: 3.5 out of 5 --http://easymusicfordifficultears.blogspot.com/2010/01/review-neon-highwire-luminescence-ep.html

Neon Highwire is three determined men from two countries with one goal: to make you dance like a grizzly bear on a Turkish hotplate. A fusion of dirty electro and angular post-rock guitar soundscapes, their sound is strapped into intricate structures with three part vocals that amplify and propel the songs to their irresistible climaxes. Formed in late 2008, Neon Highwire prowl the streets of London in search of people to ensnare with their melodies and enslave with their musicianship, and their net is expanding. They've played shows at 93 Feet East, The Old Blue Last, 333, and The Good Ship amongst others, and are fast building a reputation for disturbingly energetic performances and an ability to get even the most hard line Standing Stillers dancing their tits off. It s an electroplosion. Their debut EP, Luminescence, was released digitally on 14th December 2009 cementing a year of incredible musical development for the threesome, and their impact has been rippling far and wide. In addition to multiple plays on Tom Robinson s show on BBC 6 Music, Neon Highwire has been played on a variety of radio shows in the USA including Chicago s Westside Will & Andy Quirk s Hits Of The Near Future. A recent support slot with Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and a forthcoming UK tour is an unsurprisingly promising start to 2010. The world needs Neon Highwire and it is starting to realise it. See for yourself at www.neonhighwire.com. Under Moonlight has been played multiple times on Tom Robinson's BBC 6 Music show and named by Sherwood Radio as their 'Track Of The Week'. 93 Feet East named them one of their 93 picks describing them as 'Filed somewhere between a friendlier Death From Above 1979 and a nastier Hot Chip, Neon Highwire specialise in, in their own words nihilistic deeply distorted-bass driven house'; Musosguide named them a 'tip for 2010'. God Is In The TV Zine wrote 'Their sound is a melting pot of eclecticism tied together with a coherence which gives them their distinctive style. Part electronic dance machine, part balls-out rock, part pop darlings, there s a maturity in the sound borne from a near-fanatical perfectionism...'. Easy Music for Difficult Ears said 'Rather than lay claim to overly simple rhythms a chord progression, Neon Highwire's songs are laced with touches of elegance and intricate meanderings that makes them rather nice to listen - an impression is also left that these may also be killer dancefloor chooooooons.' They've been featured in West Side Will's showcase & Andy Quirk's podcast 'Hits Of The Near Future'. Where The Wild Things Are described the live show as '...a crazy kind of electro-dance-funk noise going on that somehow kept reminding me of the Mighty Boosh. It is only enhanced by the leaping around and flailing of the band members and we have to give a special shout out to Steve-o s boiler suit, Kanye West, flashing belt combo.' London Tunes said 'And now we re blessed with Neon Highwire. Their tunes come at you at breakneck speed and leave you wondering if their self-description of nihilistic deeply distorted bass driven house is sufficiently intense.' The Other Side Of The River say 'most importantly of all: they re really rather good' James Theaker, NME radio said of single Under Moonlight 'The song structure is great and the length is just about right for a radio edit.'