The Kiara Elles - Slide Over

If you are struggling with the idea for the next big reality show in a time when they're getting from terrible to worst, try this one. A conceptual artist from a Bradford council estate living life with reckless abandon; the son of a national fame transvestite with a heavy tendency for sleepwalking; an immigrant from a farm in Italy with worryingly, a few too many mafia stories to tell; a girl affected by a rare mental condition leading her to believe she is trapped in a Charles Schultz comic strip; a self confessed masochist perfectly disguising his vice with an irreprehensible 9-5 life as a bank employee. Lock these 5 people into an inadequate practice room in a dingy area of Leeds and tell them they will not be set free till they have written 11 fully formed songs. This is how "Slide Over" is born…

Fresh on the back of last years debut ‘Odio’ EP, which received great radio support from Huw Stephens, Steve Lamacq, Gideon Coe, Clare McDonnell, and Gary Crowley, The Kiara Elles are back with their debut full length ‘Slide Over’. Produced by Choque Hosein (The Brute Chorus and Black Wire) and released on Vandal (also set up by Hosein, a decade on from receiving Leeds’ first Mercury Music nomination with his band Black Star Liner) everything from the music to the artwork is born and bred in the band and labels hometown of Leeds.

It is due to this DIY ethic that after a string of shows with Miike Snow, The Chapman Family, and Shy Child and the stamp of approval from Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens on Radio 1 and Chris Martin on NME Radio (all while unsigned), the band turned down numerous labels that didn’t share their vision or work ethic until finding a kindred spirit in Choque Hosein.

 
On their debut single ‘Odio’, Chiara Lucchini (AKA The Kiara Elles hyperactive front-woman) despite having never made a video before, shot and edited the video to the track herself. The band’s debut release literally had the band’s personal stamp on every sleeve, with each limited edition 7" vinyl having individually home made and hand stamped sleeves, made of varied styles of texturised wallpaper, the band cutting and gluing each one. This continues on the band’s debut album with the first 150 copies all coming in a unique limited edition case handcrafted by the band.

 
Often the writing process for The Kiara Elles starts out with Chiara and Emma, who are resident DJs at the Elbow Rooms, the once famous venue where ‘Back to Basics’ was born. When they DJ they take CDRs of the bands bass and drum tracks to play out (often looping them to create longer tracks to mix), testing which ones get the best reactions and then using these rhythm tracks as the basis to write the full songs which made it onto the album.  

The band’s debut album ‘Slide Over’ features 11 tracks that showcase the band as being a sum of its parts, from its minimal guitar parts, driving drum beats, subtle synth lines to Lucchini’s sharp observational lyrics about the trappings of everyday life, all under pinned by Emma’s sharp dance floor basslines.

Your browser may not support display of this image. The Kiara Elles are CHIARA LUCCHINI on Vocals, JONNY LEE HART on Guitar, EMMA QUICK on Bass, DAN STRETTON on Drums, and AMY GREIR on Synths.

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