I Like Trains

Emerging from England, the post-rock group I Like Trains evokes the sweeping grandeur associated with outfits such as Sigur Rós, Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and Explosions in the Sky. Unlike many peers who favor invented languages, submerge intentionally cryptic verses beneath layers of sound, or dispense with vocals altogether, the ensemble introduces a distinctive approach. Vocalist David Martin focuses his words on overlooked episodes from global history, including tracks addressing the sole assassinated British Prime Minister and the psychological unraveling of chess champion Bobby Fischer. Their live shows reinforce an offbeat sensibility, featuring performances in vintage British Rail uniforms paired with projections of arbitrary film sequences.

I Like Trains, initially styled iLiKETRAiNS, came together in Leeds during 2003 as its members studied at Leeds University. Alongside Martin, the lineup comprised guitarist and keyboardist Guy Bannister, bassist Alistair Bowis, drummer Simon Fogal, and cornet player Ashley Dean, who also oversees the group’s visual elements such as videos and the film loops. The musicians performed locally and produced multiple self-released demos ahead of their first single, “Before the Curtains Close,” which appeared in April 2005; “A Rook House for Bobby” arrived later that year. In 2006 Fierce Panda issued the single “Terra Nova” together with the EP Progress Reform, a collection that incorporated material from earlier releases. Still in 2006 the band moved to the established indie Beggars Banquet, whose release of Elegies to Lessons Learnt followed in the latter half of 2007. Although the album registered on the U.K. charts, the label subsequently parted ways with them, prompting self-issued albums He Who Saw the Deep in 2010 and Shallows in 2012 on the band’s own I Like Records imprint.

In 2016 directors Matthew Hopkins and Benjamin Lankester assembled festival screenings of a documentary examining the three-year stretch after Shallows. Addressing the challenges of persisting without label support while starting families, A Divorce Before Marriage carried an instrumental score supplied by the band; A Divorce Before Marriage [Original Soundtrack] appeared under their own auspices that December. The group resurfaced in 2020 with their ninth release, Kompromat, centered on motifs of technology and information.