Beautiful Indie Rock / Dream Pop a la Radiohead / Elbow!

Please help me with this!

I heard a song while at McDonald's in Dungarvan, Ireland today and scoured the net to try and find the artist... To no avail!

The song was very much in the dream pop / indie rock vein and it was mixed in with other very current dance pop and indie pop. The song was atmospheric and mysterious with a repetitive (but live) syncopated drum beat (like in Radiohead's songs "Kid A" or "In Limbo"), an organ playing sustained chords, tasteful electric guitars, and incredibly beautiful high male (falsetto) singing (with an accent like Chris Martin or the guy from Elbow).. The vocalist is noticeably very talented and is singing in a very un-pop way.

The singing was also unusual in that it was basically impossible to understand an entire line of lyrics at any point (like in Ray Montagne's "I Still Care For You"). The second half of the song had vocals which may have been wordless or just very melismatic (long, stretched syllables), with harmonies as well. Very much like an ancient chant melody, but in a very high range.

I haven't heard Elbow since their first two albums, but it sounded more like a dreamier them (or Radiohead minus Thom Yorke) than anything else I can think of. ..with an ambitious, complex, almost progressive sort of structure.

The whole thing sounded quite organic and like a band playing with fairly standard instrumentation, and recording in a proper studio.. not likely a solo bedroom artist or duo.. It had a very hazy feeling, and it may have said something about "by the sea".. But quite possibly not.


Its likely to be from a somewhat well-known, current English band..

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

After a month and a half of searching, the closest thing I've found is the band Shearwater, particularly some songs on their "The Golden Archipelago" album.

Any ideas?

Bump!

got a clip of the song? im assuming not..but keep in mind anytime you hear a song you like record some of it likely someone here can help you if we can hear it ;-)

Nope. I don't have any lyrics or a recording.. I know that makes it much more difficult! I think I'll call that McDonald's and ask for the company who provides their music..

hey thats an idea! maybe they have a play list!

I know this was back in 2012, but maybe it could be easier now that the song is at least 5 years old?!

I tried listening through all of the Elbow and Shearwater releases, but found nothing quite so dreamy and distinctly different as this mystery song.

A few other things I can remember--
-I thought it sounded like a song about living in a small home by oceanside cliffs. This also goes to say that it had a humble 'human scale' to it... not trying to be epic or cosmic like Sigur Ros or anything like that.

-It had strings that could have been arranged by Johnny Greenwood, Owen Pallett, Andrew Bird or Nico Muhly, which became more prominent by the end.

-There was real subtle sophistication to the interplay between the organ, string section and (clean) electric guitars.

-The drums were 'churning' and looping (but live performed, not 'loops'). They didn't keep time in a rock-and-roll-beat kind of way.

-It reminded me for some reason of a lush and updated 1970s Robert Wyatt.

-Again there was a very different, specifically unpop approach to the singing. There were English-language lyrics (which I couldn't catch). The focus was definitely more on creating atmosphere and melody than delivering the lyrics.

-It could be a band that also has more 'standard' songs but really ventured into something different, as sometimes ends up the final song on an album.


Anyone got any ideas?