Come On Live Long

Come On Live Long (Whelan’s main room – Friday)
Dubliners Come On Live Long have an unfortunate billing – first on Friday night, both early and with Duke Special performing right upstairs – yet their modernized folk style is immediately charming. Co-ed vocals are wrapped around insightful lyrics, and layered with a well-constructed, minimalist layer of synth rhythms over the top. It’s not a natural approach to folk – they’re clearly not traditionalists – but the subtlety of the fusion is what makes this band great. Playing to a small crowd doesn’t seem to offset the collective energy in the least, and Louise Gaffney’s mellow, gorgeously offbeat approach to her vocal contribution is particularly impressive. With two EPs under their belt to date, Come On Live Long might still lack that single special track, but the overall affect is highly promising. - James Hendicot

To Whelan’s then and one of the best new Irish bands around. Come On Live Long admit they only have six songs and a couple of EP’s, but the five-piece, just like their music, are infectious and impossible to resist. Armed with ukulele and movie star good looks, they were always going to go down well. ‘Guatemala’ is thrown out early, though the funky bass line is not enough to move the crowd away from the bar (another problem with early gigs). Come On Live Long get on with matters regardless, passing through the gorgeous acoustic sounds of ‘Animals’, one or two new songs and an infectiously happy synth player, before culminating in one of the best songs of the last year, ‘Elephants & Time’. The already massive song is more stomping on the overflowing stage, with the breakdowns and change in tempo still perfect. Come On Live Long set the bar very high, very early. Expect them to only get bigger and better. They also tell of having run a relay marathon in Belfast the previous weekend which went horribly wrong. A lesson to the Dublin Crawl crowd – don’t try to see everything. - We Are Noise

The multi talented Come On Live Long, have released a new video directed by drummer Steve Battle and starring a sullen, pensive and very stylish Rob Ardiff. Come on Live Long will be performing at the Camden Crawl this Saturday.
If Hard Working Class Heros is anything to go by, Dublin is the perfect city for a festival. Check out the poster below and get out this weekend and see some of the best of Irish Music without having to sleep in a field. - Soundblob

Directed by the band’s own Steve Battle. Come On Live Long play the Dublin Crawl tomorrow. I believe they’re doing Whelan’s at 6.45pm sharp. I’ll be there. ‘Elephants & Time’ is the opening track of the band’s stellar EP Mender. Listen to that after the jump. - The Point Of Everything

One of our favourite new Irish bands of the moment, Come On Live Long have just completed a nationwide tour with We Cut Corners. If you've only just cottoned on to their talents - or are even just curious - you can bring yourself up to date by downloading their entire output to date. The collection includes the two EPs Come On Live Long and Mender, plus a fantastic set of remixes of the latter from the likes of Simon Bird, Lemonada and Bantum. Get downloading here.
- Heineken Music

Dublin-based five-piece Come On Live Long just released a video for single ‘Elephants and Time’ from the Mender EP. In this video, the protaganist finds himself waking up on a shore and wanders around the countryside as the electronic-filled pop tune conveys a feeling of escape and need for freedom (the last lyrics go “Now that I wanted to leave home”).

You can download ‘Elephants and Time’ for free, listen and buy Come On Live Long’s Mender EP on Bandcamp. - State.ie

Last month’s Irish MAP representative Come On Live Long seriously impressed me live at the State Midnight Mass in The Mercantile just before Christmas and ‘Elephants & Time’ is the standout track from their Mender EP.
Equally improving with time, are Ruairi Lynch’s electronic productions with Bantum, most recently the Lay Lay EP. His remix of ‘Elephants & Time’ uses the atmospheric swirling electronics of the original and punctures it with bass-heavy percussive hits. - Nialler9.com

Formed in 2010, the Dublin-based five-piece haven't lost any time getting into the swing of things with two EPs to date. It's their second EP Mender and, in particular, the magnificent opening track Elephants and Time which has piqued our interest, with its superb electronic swagger, strong percussive punctuation and winning harmonies. The trick for Come On Live Long now is to write a half-dozen other songs that follow in Elephants ' footsteps because, live, it's tracks like these that really connect. All to play for here.

Comeonlivelong.bandcamp.com
- Irish Times

I hope you all had the happiest of holidays, and if you haven’t yet, you should check our hipster holiday hymns - good stuff. It has been a while since I have heard some stellar material from an Irish group such as this. This band, Come On Live Long, has some catchy ass melodies and classic alternative vibes. They have definitely got what it takes to make it pretty big, hopefully posts like these will help them gain some momentum. Here’s a little ditty called “Elephant and Time” … if you dig it, purchase their EP – Mender - which was released last month. - Music That Isn't Bad (USA)

Catching the ear and eye in 2011 with two EPs and a stunning HWCH show (not to mention our recent Midnight Mass Christmas gig), Come On Live Long combine electronic influences with a range of familiar (and not so familiar) instruments. Their eponymous debut EP was recorded in the West of Ireland just two weeks after the band formed, since then the five-piece have composed themselves as purposeful musicians with a strong identity.... - State Magazine

Track of the Week - Hotpress

Gig promo - Galway Advertiser

Animal Video Review - Harmless Noise

Formed last year, Come On Live Long have picked up a steady pace in no time as evident on the release of their latest EP entitled Mender. They make far-reaching alternative songs with considerable melodies, synths and a strong singular sound. Production by Nouveaunoise electronic maestro Conor Gaffney on some tracks helps too. Ones to watch. - Nialler 9

Mender gets number 2 in this blog's best Irish releases of 2011 - Swear I'm Not Paul

Number 2 in Irish Times journalist Jim Carroll's top 5 International bands of 2011. - Nialler9.com

It may sound peculiar when I compare the latest offering from the relatively new Irish band Come On Live Long to a really, really good sandwich.

An analogy that should not be taken for granted, the complex internal architecture of a sandwich is something to be admired at the best of times, savoured for as long as possible and boasted about when all other conversation runs dry… “jaysis, you’d never believe the sandwich I had yesterday… mindblowing!” – We’ve all uttered those words at some point, right?

“Mender” is a really good sandwich. Its packed full of flavour while just about staying together, it has a little bit of everything thrown in but not so much that it spoils the meal, and only takes 20 or so minutes to satisfy your hunger…

This five piece from Dublin have a sound that is overflowing with confidence and proficiency. There is no sense that they are finding their voice, in fact it feels as if they have been playing together for years, trudging along in dingy bars and going through the paces until they hit upon that groove they’d been searching for all those years – well one way or another they found it and it sounds great.

On the back of the rave reviews that followed the release of their self titled debut EP in June of this year they have put together a four track release of real strength and depth.

Mender has a vital quality that exudes complexity and attention to detail. The bass and guitar melodies in Elephants and Time play within a wash of synth as haunting vocals rise out of the haze. The contrast between booming bass lines and delicate sequences bring you on a journey. The catchy chorus will also have you humming loudly on the bus!

It’s clear they are not afraid to play their instruments. There is no safe option evident when you listen in on Guatemala, everyone is pushing it and you get that desire to know how they are doing it – a musicality that you don’t get in a lot of new releases these days. The sound is slightly more “epic” (or perhaps Spacey) in this track, with over-driven guitar and cymbal crashes bringing it home.

White Horses brings a similar quality, but emphasises the lovely interplay between O’Connor and Gaffney’s vocals. The rise and fall in the song again brings you on a journey as moments full of sound are suddenly reduced to simple acoustic guitar picking. The composition of all the songs are careful and well measured.

Someone’s Home brings it all together. A reversed looped sample is a great surprise against which a beautiful building composition is set – full of positive vibes and good times. Again the vocals pin down the sound, not just in their melodies but also how they play against the beat in inventive ways.

Confidence, confidence, confidence the whole release is full of it, they know what they are doing and they want to bring you along too. Good times all round, a feeling that begins with the opening of the colourful album artwork and keeps on giving until the end.

Then you just hit repeat and make another sambo.

Album Launch

Come On Live Long will be launching their EP in Crawdaddy in Dublin on the 9th of December and in Kelly’s in Galway on the 10th! Surely two nights not to be missed! - Arthub.ie

Disbelief follows the first listen of Come On Live Long's new EP Mender: it spans just 20 minutes but in that time manages more costume changes than a catwalk model. Rather than use the relative youth of the band as an excuse for making mistakes, Come On Live Long have instead embraced the opportunity to be ambitious, energetic and vigorous in their compositions, all the while exercising restraint and control.

This intention is clear from the first bar of the opening track 'Elephants And Time' with its swirling intro and rapid-fire drum tattoo that shifts within itself, as vocals harmonise, to immediately mark out a desire to intrigue as well as entertain the listener. The band could build a serious reputation for rhythm and melody on the basis of this track alone. It adapts and grows from itself, with the bass used to tremendous effect, particularly when a magnificent grungey heaviness tops the final of its full five minutes.

'Guatemala' had its work cut out to follow 'Elephant's massive footprints but by changing tack entirely, it hears the band settle into a form they feel comfortable with, moving into defined rock while retaining the quirky melodic delight of its predecessor. 'Guatemala' is more formulaic and steady in progression, and it's here that James Eager's keen ear and eye for detail comes to the fore. It's doubtful that Mender would sound so hefty and strong if Come On Live Long had gone elsewhere; there's crunch, prickle and rasp in the mix that softer hands would have made to shimmer artificially.

'White Horses', reined in with a fine vocal and slow tempo, harks back to powerful, classic rock while moving forward with oddly-complementary electronic insertions that almost bring it to a standstill.

'Someone's Home' doesn't seem serious yet acts as a bookend to the first track, the perfect closer as we hear it flit through forms again. A rising hum and picked strings introduce us before the kickdrum boots forward into a funk-fused singalong that is coaxed to dancy fullness. There are vocal bridges that ring out, then a massive guitar/cymbal section before a slow finale 4/4 drum crescendo that verges on sublime. It's a fitting way to end as the entire EP seems pinned around artful, simple rhythms and the right balance of melody in the arrangements.

What's curious about Mender is the fact that 'Elephants And Time'and 'Someone's Home' show that Come On Live Long use them as a portfolios of their abilities and range of influence, in order to impress, but counter this with genuine rock that justifies the 'Alternative' tag. Part business, part indulgence makes for something truly exciting. There is currently no real audience for this type of Irish music that encompasses electronica, pop and rock without diluting the aesthetic properties of the genres, and Mender is a gloriously risky listen that will mark them out as a dynamic force of Ireland's new alternative bands to watch in 2012. - Harmless Noise

I have been meaning to write about Come On Live Long and their new EP Mender for at least two weeks now. I haven’t because the music is simply so exciting that I forget to write down words to try and describe it. First the preamble: Come On Live Long are a five-piece band from Dublin who formed in late 2010. They already have one release under their name, the two-track self-titled EP. But now we have the Mender EP, which is comprised of five tracks that are never anything less than thrilling.

There are a number of influences on show, whether they’re intentional or not though is debatable. For instance, opener and standout track ‘Elephants and Time’ sounds, to these ears at least, like Cold War Kids – a buzzband around 2006, who released one great album, followed by a good album followed this year by a dud: ask your older brother. Now obviously, not many bands would want to try to copy that trajectory, but that’s the first comparison that sprung to mind on the first play of the EP. And Cold War Kids aren’t the only ‘cool’ band who Come On Live Long sound like. The beginning of ‘Guatemala’, for eight seconds at least, sounds like the opening bars of Arcade Fire’s ‘Neighborhood #3 (Lights Out)’. Final track ‘Someone’s Home’ meanwhile, morphs into Guillemots’ ‘Made Up Lovesong #43' around the 90-second mark. Now this may or may not be intentional, but that’s what jumped out to me while listening to Mender. There are presumably other bands that jump to mind for other listeners.

So now that that confession is out there, what about Come On Live Long themselves? Well, as already mentioned, ‘Elephants and Time’ opens proceedings and sets the bar high. Over five minutes long, it goes through a number of sections that never repeat themselves. I count seven. We begin with snare-smashingly good drums and electronica, with singer Robert Ardiff claiming he “couldn’t keep a promise”. The refrain of “I know you can’t swim but the water’s low” enters just before the one-minute mark and 40 seconds later the bass takes over. It’s not quite a solo, but for someone who used to play bass in his youth, it was wonderful. Proceedings then pick up again at the 2.06 mark – the most obvious link to Cold War Kids. Less than 60 seconds later Come On Live Long offer the most singalong part of the whole EP. “Now that I want it you leave home,” (it could also be “Now that I wanted to leave home.” Either works, and I don’t really want to know the exact lyric.) sings Ardiff. We get more excitement before four minutes and then we get the bass-driven outro. ‘Elephants and Time’ might well be one of the songs of the year. That the quality doesn’t take a dramatic drop afterwards is testament to the band.

‘Guatemala’, after the Arcade Fire bit, is a funk-guitar driven track. Again though, the songs changes so much that by the end of its five minutes it’s practically unrecognisable from the beginning, though the samples remain. The question “Will we be saved?” never gets an answer and leaves things up in the air. ‘White Horses’ is a much slower number than what has preceded it and grows in sound. Come On Live Long have been described in numerous places – including their Facebook page – as folk, which I don’t particularly see. Maybe there’s something folky in the lyrics but it’s not the first genre that would jump to mind. Final track ‘Someone’s Home’ is folky for little over a minute. “It’s written above you that the world can be brutal if you don’t understand,” Ardiff sings. There are lots of lines like this that jump out at you and will reward on repeat listens. - The Point Of Everything

On Friday night, Come On Live Long played at a set at the Nialler9/Le Cool Love:Love Music Night in Christ Church Cathedral. The band’s edifying songs filled the vast space with ease. Just two years ago, they were a promising new act with a couple of short EPs showcasing a group with sound ambition. After Friday night, I’d go as far to say as they are one of the best new live bands in Ireland.They have that assured dynamic, that confidence that comes only from a band who know who they are and what they’re at. Their debut album Everything Fall confirms that. Recorded by Gavin Glass, engineered by Scott Halliday at Orphan Studios in Dublin with additional production and mixing by keyboardist and singer Louise Gaffney’s brother Conor who you might know from Nouveaunoise, Everything Fall sounds truly pristine, like stepping from VHS up to HD from the EPs.

Over ten songs, there’s not a big let up in the quality which means Come On Live Long’s debut is an admirable one. Opener ‘Wasteland’ is a microcosm of the band’s defining characteristics; crashing snapping drums by Steven Battle (which sound wonderfully post-treated by Conor Gaffney), bright guitar tones underpinned by electronic, keyboard and percussive sounds match singers Robert Ardiff and Gaffney’s dual vocal counterpoints and are heightened by cavernous crescendos.

Ardiff and Gaffney take turns on leads throughout providing the voiced emotion to the band’s delicately arranged and melodically-strong songs and that balance is a big plus for the album particularly on tracks ‘Old Apart’, ‘Mountains’ and ‘Little Ones’.

Suspenseful rhythm features on the bass and brass-led on ‘Tide’ which is broken by a lilting piano in its second half. Handclaps anticipate the brooding minimalism of ‘Cybil’ and the album finishes on ‘Billions’, a track which like their name, references Scottish instrumental rock band Mogwai in its serene trot to the end. So not just one of the best new live bands in Ireland, but one with a really, really impressive debut LP too.

Everything Fall is released on Live Long Records on July 5th. The Dublin launch gig takes place on July 6th in Whelan’s with Bouts on support. - Nialler 9