city lights fade

The Whatevers ~ City Lights Fade (February Records, 2011)

Once a Girl/boy duo and now a four piece band, The Whatevers are back with more lovely tunes. Five to be more precise and this time they have joined forces with (also lovely) February Records. This small label has been building quite a solid catalog. And if that weren't enough, a lot of their releases are given away as free downloads. Don't you just love that?
The Whatevers also are building a strong career and have come a long way releasing singles on Holiday Records, on their bandcamp page and now on February. They are also part of the line-up for Indietracks this year which is "a pretty big deal for us", quoting an email Michael sent me a few days ago.
In case you haven't heard of them before, here's the description on February's page for the release (fun reading, folks):

Mike and Kate met at school. Kate had shaved her head to shock the locals. Mike had just split up with the only other indie punk girl in their small town, so it was natural they would become boyfriend and girlfriend. Kate would buy the NME and Mike would buy the Melody Maker and they would swap halfway through the week and cut the pictures out and practice interview techniques for the day they formed a famous indie band. Mike was in a band called Sparkling Tarts and they played at the local youth club with Kate’s band. After they had broken each others heart for about 15 years, Mike finally had enough songs and they formed The Whatevers. Al was one of their biggest fans, so they asked him to join the band.

The Whatevers sing mainly about their relationship history, radical leftist politics, not being able to get out of bed and conversations about sex that they have had at bus stops.

'City Lights Fade' delivers lo-fi indiepop in its purest state: simple melodies covered by melancholic, fun lyrics and funny music names. The last track is a cover for 'Anne Boleyn', from Eux Autres. When asked - in our interview - about doing covers, The Whatevers mentioned that they'd like to cover Eux Autres but haven't heard back from the band by that time; apparently Eux Autres read the interview and contacted The Whatevers, saying that - of course! - they could do the cover. So, yeah... if you ask me, I'm really proud 'chaotisch und charmant' might be part of this song.

01. city lights fade
02. everything but the kitchen sink drama
03. the second best of the whatevers
04. why girlfriends are better than guitars
05.anne boleyn (eux autres cover)



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