Crystal Fighters

Crystal Fighters, an ensemble whose members hail from several countries and whose sound reflects a wandering spirit, merge electronic textures, pop structures, and folk traditions drawn from many regions into exuberant celebrations. Their 2010 debut album Star of Love drew its core energy from Basque melodies and instruments, yet the follow-up Cave Rave, issued in 2013 to strong reviews, folded in Latin and African rhythms along with dubstep. Each subsequent project broadened the group’s palette: tropical and psychedelic hues shaped 2016’s Everything Is My Family, while the 2019 globe-spanning mixtape Gaia & Friends incorporated contributions from artists in South Africa, Colombia, and Chile. Their 2023 release LIGHT+ further enriched the mix by adding cumbia and additional styles to the festive blend.

Before Crystal Fighters existed, London-based guitarist and vocalist Sebastian Pringle, multi-instrumentalist Gilbert Vierich, and guitarist Graham Dickson had already collaborated on several ventures. Vocalists Mimi Borrelli and Laure Stockley soon completed the lineup; during a visit to her late grandfather’s home in the Basque region, Stockley found his diary, which contained sketches for an unfinished opera titled Crystal Fighters. The band adopted that title and let the opera’s themes guide their songwriting while weaving in Basque instruments such as the wooden chromatic percussion piece txalaparta and the pipe whistle txistu.

The group’s first single, “I Love London,” appeared in 2008. Music blogs championed the track, which became the sole unreleased song chosen for Mixmag’s Top 100 Tunes of 2008 and circulated widely through remixes on European dance floors. Later that year the band joined the French label Kitsuné, which put out the next single Xtatic Truth in May 2009. Additional singles, among them “In the Summer,” preceded the October 2010 arrival of Star of Love—the same year drummer Andrea Marongiu came aboard. The album’s distinctive fusion of folk and dance elements propelled it into the Top Ten of the U.K. Dance Albums Chart. While the band toured extensively, a deluxe edition containing acoustic versions and extra material surfaced in mid-2011, followed in 2012 by Star of Love Remixes; North American listeners received the album officially in April 2012.

For the second album, Pringle, Vierich, and Dickson relocated to Los Angeles to work with producer Justin Meldal-Johnson, resulting in the more streamlined Cave Rave released in May 2013. The record introduced fully electronic pieces, dubstep passages, and instruments from Africa and South America; it performed solidly with both critics and audiences, reaching number nine on Australia’s Hitseekers Albums Chart, number 20 on the U.K. Indie Albums Chart, and number 27 on the U.S. Top Heatseekers Albums Chart. After the release the band staged a Cave Rave event in the Basque countryside.

In 2014 they issued the single “Love Alight,” recorded during the Cave Rave sessions, and performed across Australia, Europe, South Africa, and North America. Following Marongiu’s death from heart failure that September, Crystal Fighters paid tribute to him on several tracks of October 2016’s Everything Is My Family. Written and tracked in locations including the Canary Islands, Los Angeles, and London, the album introduced psychedelic and tropical elements. After nearly two years of worldwide touring, the group returned in 2018 with the single “Boomin’ In Ya Jeep” and the EP Hypnotic Sun, which featured a collaboration with Bomba Estéreo. That act, along with Petite Noir and Soledad Vélez, contributed to the March 2019 mixtape Gaia & Friends. Among the year’s shows was Wave Rave, a one-day festival held in the Bay of Biscay to promote sustainability and clean water. In 2021 the band released three NFTs pairing artwork from Everything Is My Family with original audio.

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic the members worked on their fourth album from separate locations—Pringle in Colombia, Vierich in the U.K., and Dickson in the U.S. The extended break from the road rekindled their creative drive, leading them to draw on cumbia, tropical pop, and rave influences for November 2023’s LIGHT+, which included contributions from Charlie Hugall, Luke Smith, Ghost Culture, and FYFE.