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Divine Fits are: Spoon’s Britt Daniel, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade and Handsome Furs, and New Bomb Turks’ Sam Brown, with Alex Fischel on keyboards.
“I know you see me/ I’m just like you/ I’m just trying to make my way/ I got a feeling that you can relate.” – Divine Fits “Flaggin’ A Ride”
“Would That Not Be Nice” was my introduction to indie supergroup Divine Fits, a song which admittedly made me immediately go Shazam’ing to see which obscure Spoon song was playing on the almighty tastemaking machine KCRW. Although at the time I was a little suspect while hearing the music behind Britt Daniel’s extremely recognizable vocals – because this tune didn’t really sound a damn thing like any Spoon song I’d heard (well, maybe a little bit like a few tunes from Kill The Moonlight (2002)). Needless to say, I was pretty in the dark when the foreign-to-me name “Divine Fits” come across the screen. The song had an infectious and bouncy bass line and a heavily vibrato’d synth effect that swirled together perfectly to make an impact and leave me wanting to hear more.
Lucky for myself and folks in the Greater Los Angeles area, this new New Wave-leaning indie pop band is using the city as somewhat of a soft launching pad and a chance to get warmed up for bigger national dates and festival appearances (Nashville’s SoundLand and Asheville’s Moogfest) scheduled later this fall in support of their debut LP A Thing Called Divine Fits (out 8/28/12). With seven performances now under their belt, Divine Fits’ first shows all took place at small venues in each member’s home town, starting with an unannounced gig in Austin, TX (Britt Daniel/Spoon) on August 1 before hitting Montreal (Wolf Parade) and Columbus (New Bomb Turks). The band is currently in the middle of an intriguing four-show run at four unique, small LA venues (Bootleg, The Hotel Cafe, Masonic Lodge @ Hollywood Forever Cemetery and The Echo) including the one I’ll be covering this Tuesday in the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. All these LA shows could’ve been in considerably smaller rooms, is a solid indicator that this tour/project isn’t just a hastily put-together cash grab, these guys are just excited to be diving into a fresh musical endeavor. I, for one, am excited to see what these guys can create on a live stage, particularly “Salton Sea,” my personal favorite track from the new record.
“My Love Is Real” was the first full song to surface from Divine Fits’ debut album, an LP produced by Nick Launay (Public Image Ltd., Killing Joke, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) to be released on Tuesday by Merge Records.
Press Love for Divine Fits
As for the performance, there was nothing not to like. The crowd, most vocally Britt fans, ate up every sincere smile that the band gave to them, and hung on every sound that came from the stage. The band, visibly having a blast, seemed to be pushing themselves to improve upon their previous performances, even noting after a blistering conclusion to “The Salton Sea” that it was the best version of the song that the band had performed yet. I’m not quite sure yet where critics will fall on the Divine Fits album, but as a live act, the songs work completely. Both Daniel and Boeckner have a natural ability at finding hooks that strike the listener as both familiar and fresh. – Beats Per Minute
Comparisons are fair and inevitable, but the album deserves that highest of compliments: For all its familiar components, it sounds like Divine Fits. – NPR Music on A Thing Called Divine Fits
For all the hype and curiosity that surrounded this gig, Daniel, Boeckner, and company played strongly and succeeded in what they needed to succeed at: sounding like a band. – Austin Chronicle
DIVINE FITS TOUR DATES
Aug 28 – Los Angeles, CA – Masonic Temple
Aug 30 – Seattle, WA – The Crocodile
Sept 4 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo * Daughn Gibson supports
Sept 5 – Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace
Sept 9 – New York, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg
Oct 6 – Nashville, TN – SoundLand Festival
Oct 14 – San Francisco, CA – Treasure Island Music Festival
Oct 27 – Asheville, NC – Moogfest
PREVIOUS SHINE A LIGHT featured artist: The Stepkids
