Hangin' Out In 100b

Does everybody already know about Photons? Probably, I’m not always the quickest to catch on to new bands. But I found Photons in our inbox, had a quick listen and was immediately intrigued.

Photons are a San Francisco 8-piece who specialize, it seems, in playing wacky instruments. Don’t get me wrong – this is not silly novelty music, it should just be mentioned that their love of unusual instruments is what makes them especially unique and what will probably grab your attention first. As their press bio says, Photons makes “an energetic brand of indie pop that features bassoon, glockenspiel, clarinet, and a full chest of bizarre instruments such as the electro-harp, soda-bottle percussion and the bulbul tarang (Indian banjo)”.

Though, as I said, you’d probably read that and expect some silly novelty pop, Photons’ music is quite lovely – especially “Where Were You Last Night” (below). Them being a quite large band will automatically gain them comparisons to Arcade Fire and the Polyphonic Spree, I’m sure – and for the same reason they do have similarities in sound to those bands. But don’t let those obvious comparisons put you off, Photons definitely have their own thing going and are well worth your time.

Check out their new self-released EP, Glory! – the first of three to be released this year – available on CD (and with the first in a series of comic books written and adorably drawn by bandleader Calvin Liu) now from Insound. Glory! will also be available from all the usual digital suspects from June 23. In the meantime, check out Photons official site or PhotonSpace to hear more.