Body Language Premiere First Single "Social Studies" On Pitchfork
Social Studies (Deluxe Edition) EP Out October 4th On Lavish Habits / OM Records
Release Free Toro Y Moi Remix, Announce US Dates
“Is this a dubstep record?”
Not quite, although Body Language’s Social Studies EP certainly starts off that way—with a thick, top-heavy baseline absolutely hammering your speakers. Ah, but then the synths kick in like laser canons, leading us all down a neon-lit wind tunnel that’s lined with lean loops, galloping grooves, and head-circling hooks. Which begs one simple question: what is this, really?
“The title sums it up perfectly,” explains Grant Wheeler, who sings and swaps instruments alongside his longtime production partner/lead vocalist Matt Young, glockenspiel guru Angelica Bess, and drummer Ian Young. “Depending on the day, we’re producing indie music, DJing house, disco and Detroit techno, or writing pop songs on the piano. So we wrapped our record up like a tidy textbook of genres, or different cultures in a social studies class.”
And like any decent textbook, Body Language have a lot of history behind them, starting with the weekly parties Matt and Grant used to throw at a dive bar in Connecticut. The residency led to their love of dance music and a need for homemade club edits of everything from Billy Ocean to Don Henley. Not only that; the pair also started to tackle their own tracks, with Angelica eventually rounding out their ever-evolving sound and Ian stepping into his rhythm section role on the eve of a Bowery Ballroom show with Passion Pit. That billing wasn’t an isolated incident, either. As it turns out, Body Language lent their programming skills to several tracks on Passion Pit’s breakthrough album. They’ve also worked with such wildly different artists as Theophilus London, Machinedrum, and Fur.
But enough about the magic Body Language have brought to other records. This fall’s Social Studies EP—a tidy collection of four limited 10’’ singles—is a fitting followup to their 2009 debut Speaks, applying a refined pop palette to sample-splitting melodies (the title track), dollops of disco (“Falling Out”), and what can only be described as pure analog bliss (“You Can”).
“I suppose it sounds selfish,” says Grant, “but we wrote what we wanted to write. We get the same joy and satisfaction out of losing our shit behind a pair of turntables as we do singing four-part harmonies.”
Which explains why Green Velvet and Grizzly Bear get equal time on the group’s hi-fi, and with a proper LP already in its planning stages, let’s just say they might actually sound exactly like Billy Ocean by the time it’s done. Who knows. We can only hope, right?
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"Body Language gets the job done. They are a band of pomp and circumstance. They go to war with their music, armed to the teeth with it. They gyrate and dance, they sweat and they bleed. They get passionately lost in their own performances (for the record I’ve seen them 4 times live). Seen live, their music generates abandonment, of time and place. The sonic landscape of bells, whistles, synths, bass and the vocals coagulate. The beat drives, the bells chime and one feels as if they’ve entered a royal procession…" - Pomp And Circumstance
"Brooklyn's body language is the personification of DIY nu-disco. dripping with soulful sexiness, their ballad "you can" is a silky-smooth, honey-drenched example of aural carnality. (or maybe i'm just too horny.)" - The Pop Sucker
"Theres very little hipster themed porn out there, but if they wanted to make more they gotta start using this seductive Social StudiesEP. Body Language is a four-some electropop band that specialises in songs with a lot of energy and enthusiasm that are great to grind up on somebody to. They have a funky retro electronic sound but with more R&B swagger to their beats then any other emerging Electropop band. Lead singer Angelica Bell sounds sexy as hell with her Donna Summer like vocals, backed by the amazing synths and chorus of this very talented group." - This Band Is Sick
"I can’t really dance unless I’m inebriated (heavily inebriated, at that), but some music still gets my ass movin’ no matter where I’m at. And thanks to the homie Ross (aka Datahowler), I have some new tunes to turn my goofy-self into a dance machine. Or, at least, a shimmying machine. He recently tweeted that he had found a killer new EP from the group Body Language. And after investigating, I am inclined to agree with his assessment. This quartet makes some funky, sensual music that deserves to be heard on a grander scale. " - Pot Holes In My Blog
