Biography
London-based quintet Exlovers fuse dreamy pop melodies with tender male-female vocals whose bittersweet tone mirrors the group’s moniker. Formed toward the close of 2008, the lineup—Peter Scott on guitar and vocals, Laurel Sills on vocals and keys, Danny Blackman on bass, Chris Woodhead on guitar, and Brook Rogers on drums—first crossed paths in London, though most members trace their roots to England’s South-West. Within weeks the five-piece had assembled a batch of songs and launched a rigorous live campaign, performing roughly one hundred concerts in their initial twelve months. Scott and Sills’ intertwined vocals created a wistful atmosphere when separated and a hallmark set of hushed harmonies when united, lending the band’s overall sound its persistent melancholy. Sonically, the group drew from ’90s Brit-pop and the shoegaze textures of My Bloody Valentine, evident in their reverb-drenched guitar lines and urgent riffs, while transatlantic touchstones such as Elliott Smith and Pavement shaped the dreamy, cathartic character of their material.
Swiftly establishing a presence, the band signed with Chess Club Records, the U.K. imprint founded by White Lies and Mumford & Sons, and issued their first single, “Just a Silhouette,” in December 2008. After extensive roadwork alongside I Was a Cub Scout and Golden Silvers, they moved to the indie imprint Young & Lost Club, sharing stages with Noah and the Whale and Emmy the Great throughout 2009. Their debut EP, You Forget So Easily, arrived that same year, recorded with producer Stephen Street (the Smiths, Blur) and collecting four road-tested cuts, among them the title track and the brisk, dance-floor-oriented “Incomplete.”
The full-length Moth surfaced in 2012, spotlighting several previously road-honed numbers such as “You’re So Quiet” and “Blowing Kisses.” Freshly interpreted by producers Demian Castellanos and Jimmy Robertson (Florence + the Machine, Big Pink) at Rockfield Studios in Wales, these songs sat comfortably beside newer compositions including “Unloveable” and the album opener “Starlight, Starlight.”
Swiftly establishing a presence, the band signed with Chess Club Records, the U.K. imprint founded by White Lies and Mumford & Sons, and issued their first single, “Just a Silhouette,” in December 2008. After extensive roadwork alongside I Was a Cub Scout and Golden Silvers, they moved to the indie imprint Young & Lost Club, sharing stages with Noah and the Whale and Emmy the Great throughout 2009. Their debut EP, You Forget So Easily, arrived that same year, recorded with producer Stephen Street (the Smiths, Blur) and collecting four road-tested cuts, among them the title track and the brisk, dance-floor-oriented “Incomplete.”
The full-length Moth surfaced in 2012, spotlighting several previously road-honed numbers such as “You’re So Quiet” and “Blowing Kisses.” Freshly interpreted by producers Demian Castellanos and Jimmy Robertson (Florence + the Machine, Big Pink) at Rockfield Studios in Wales, these songs sat comfortably beside newer compositions including “Unloveable” and the album opener “Starlight, Starlight.”