You see a sweater in the department store. You pick it up to feel it out. Cotton? Polyester? You refer to the tag. Cotton. Ultimately, you decide to pass on the sweater (it's summer, anyway). You try leave the sweater as you found it. You're folding the sweater. It's hard. Don't give up. You give up. You feel bad, so you try again. It's still hard. Eventually, you're satisfied with the effort given and with the state of the sweater. You walk away. A song comes over the speakers that you have heard before. You Shazam it. It's Duran Duran. 

We are Street Joy.

“What am I to build, if my hands are broken, if I’m not the chosen one?” sings Steven McKellar of Civil Twilight on “Story of An Immigrant”, over a lush, dynamic beat that evokes the sounds of his native South Africa while steeped in the band’s everevolving present. The foursome (Steven, his brother and guitarist Andrew, drummer Richard Wouters and Kevin Dailey on keys and guitar) are living proof of what happens when you stop worrying about being the chosen one and make music built on both the roots that grew you and the love that keeps you thriving every day. Civil Twilight’s songs embrace every corner of human emotion, balancing delicate, poetic lyrics with sweeping arrangements that touch all the senses: a phrase to make you think; a rolling drumbeat you can feel in your bones; a guitar vamp as illustrative as a picture; a shimmer of keys whose light can nearly be seen and heard. Produced by Ben H. Allen (Gnarls Barkley, Bombay Bicycle Club, Cut Copy), their third record on Wind-Up is built on this vibrancy, on the permanent dust of a Cape Town youth; on the connection that unites them all as brothers beyond blood and on their new home in America where they pull from the innate, thriving musicianship of Nashville, where they live. When you listen to Civil Twilight, from their self-titled debut, to 2012’s widely lauded Holy Weather to now, it’s easy to understand why the band has topped five million YouTube views and reached historic success with film and television syncs – because it’s music you can’t shake, that translates experience into moments and creates melodies that become imbedded deep under the skin. We’re all immigrants, in some way, and Civil Twilight’s singing our national anthem.

I accept requests :)

https://www.facebook.com/matheus.ongaro

we're back :) first single "patiently" out now, more comin like a fresh wave

America quickly became like a second home for Sweden’s The Royal Concept. In fact, their stateside arrival has been quite a long time in the making for vocalist David Larson. ”When I was a kid, I used to say, ‘The first time I go to America will be because of music!’,” he smiles. “Low and behold, that’s exactly how and why it happened.”

In 2012, that anxiously-awaited dream came true shortly after the quartet—Larson, Filip Bekic [guitar], Magnus Robert [bass], and Frans Povel [drums]—topped HypeMachine with not one but two songs, “D-D-Dance” and “Gimme Twice”. A myriad of labels clamored to sign them over the course of the next month, but LAVA proved the perfect fit. The band proceeded to hit U.S. soil for the first time alongside everybody from Imagine Dragons and Alex Clare to Atlas Genius, further generating buzz and developing a fervent following.

When they returned to Sweden in early 2013, they garnered all sorts of new inspirations and experiences to cull from as they worked on what would eventually become their 2013 offering the Royal EP [LAVA/Republic Records]. By happenstance, a track entitled “World On Fire” leaked and quickly became a fan favorite. Merging sizzling synths, dynamic guitars, and a devilishly danceable hook, the song further fueled their own fire.

In 2013, the band released the single "On Our Way", and announced the title of their debut album, Goldrushed, which was released in Sweden on September 11, 2013. In addition the band also released an exclusive song on Spotify, "27 Forever". The band also did several covers of songs such as "Cecilia" by Linnea Hendrickson and also "Simply Irresistible" by Robert Palmer for E!'s Live From the Red Carpet. On April 2014, the band announced the release date (May 7, 2014) of their debut album "Goldrushed" in Japan, which features five bonus tracks (Damn, Naked & Dumb, Gimme Twice, Knocked Up, and Someday). "On Our Way" is one of the songs featured in EA Sports's football game FIFA 14. It was also covered by the cast of Glee in the Season 5 episode "The End of Twerk" and was also used several episodes of MTV series Big Tips Texas and Generation Cryo.

Meg MacNeille is following