Europe In Colour

Featured on Urban Planner (Torontoist's recommended events to attend) as the recommendation for live music on July 29, 2008, August 28, 2008, and October 18, 2008. - Robin Hatch

"Opening for Todd’s genital-rubbing extravaganza was Europe in Colour, a self-described “power trio of love, harmonies and danceable beats.” The band hails from Toronto and played an adorable opening set of electric indie-pop." - Emily Whalen - Live Review - Oct 19, 2008

New Wave-inspired detachment inspires band

With an EP under their belt, the trio that make up Europe in Colour are ushering '80s synthpop back into our robotic radars.

Europe in Colour plays the Alex P. Keaton Oct. 17.

The Toronto group -- led by the hazy, ethereal vocals of Rebecca Applebaum and Alt Altman's countering sweet-boy crooning -- write some keyboard-laden pop tunes that possess the neon-lit charm and blips and bloops of bands like Broadcast, Metric, and Cut Copy. The band thrives on this new-wave-inspired detachment and Euro beats, and they'll be translating this into their live set at the Alex P. Keaton tomorrow night. - Feature - Oct. 16, 2008

Introducing: Europe In Colour

If I had the time and the resources, I'd have to say my Radiohead remix would sound a little like this. A focus on the minor chords of 'Reckoner' whilst everything around it oozed with even more atmosphere than the original, equipped with an intelligent deep synth melody eventually entering...Describing their music as "indie synthy pop" isn't quite as risky a move as one might think, although 'Last Flight To Paris' isn't infectious to the naked eye/ear, an adjusted listen will discover its excellence instantly. Otherwise, things will just take time and it'll have the same sort of effect on you. As it happens, towards the end, there are Yorke-esque vocals closing things together as a light and skippy drum beat helps make things even more interesting.

The vocals on an equally synthy 'Monster' are misty and ambiguous but the horn section makes so much more sense, adding a bulk of variety to their already ambitious sound. There's something unique about them that sets them aside from much of the rest of this "synthy indie pop" scene and it's most likely the dark, hymnal tones that emerge in their songs, inspired of course, by the creators of 'In Rainbows'.

- Jamie Milton - Feature - September 30, 2008

"Straight out of Toronto, Europe in Colour's heartfelt pop gems are irresistibly fey, earning them comparisons to everyone from Belle & Sebastian to sixties icons the Zombies. They make a great transition from MySpace to the stage, and their performance was easily a highlight in Guelph's recent concert history." - Live Review Sept. 12, 2008

Included in Music Notes for September 25, 2008:

"Listen to Toronto's Europe in Colour remix Radiohead's "Reckoner"." with link to the remix. - CBC Radio 3

As much as I love The Ghost Is Dancing, I can't say I ever thought that the real talent in the band lay with their drummer and trumpeter. And yet, judging by Europe In Colour's self-titled debut, this is exactly the conclusion you might want to draw.

Of course, to do so you'd have to ignore the fact that only a few songs on the album sound anything like what's on The Darkest Spark, and even those only have the loosest similarity -- there's a horn in "Monster", for example, but it's over top of a shimmering, New Wave-y beat. In fact, as "Last Flight To Paris" shows, this EP (with the exception of the Raffi cover) is all about precise, catchy, '80s-influenced pop that wouldn't sound out of place at an '80s night. It's about as far from The Ghost Is Dancing as you can get, but when it's done this well, that's a very good thing. - Matthew Pollesei

Europe in Colour play a smooth, synth-touched, danceable pop that simultaneously relaxes and energizes. Their melodies weave into your brainwaves, calming things down, opening your body to EiC’s rhythmic groove. - Evan Dickson

Europe In Colour is something of a Toronto indie-rock supergroup, with members from a variety of bands, included The Ghost Is Dancing.

This ["Last Flight To Paris"] is a sexy track -- a very spare beat with vocals front and center. It's very groovy. That's really the best way I can think of to describe it. You should just go check it out for yourself at the Tiger Bar this Thursday, if you're in Toronto, and then you'll really know. - Dan Wolovick

Toronto's Europe In Colour Keep Their Cool

Given that they all went to junior high together, you’d think that the music of Toronto e-pop outfit Europe in Colour simply reflected the matching teenage tastes of the three members—singer/keyboardist Rebecca Applebaum, guitarist Dave Kates and singer/bassist/other-stuff-ist Alt Altman. “What we listened to in high school isn’t at all like what we’re doing now,” Altman says. “I listened mostly to prog rock, Sloan and the Beatles, Rebecca was into vocal jazz and dancing to pop singles, and Dave was obsessed with classic rock and guitar gods.

“When Kid A came out, that’s when my love of electronic music really began, that record opened up a whole world of music for me. Europe in Colour actually began as an indie rock band. It took a long time, and a healthy diet of groups like the Junior Boys, LCD Soundsystem and Of Montreal, for us to move fully into making electronic pop music.”

Given the band name, the song “Last Flight to Paris,” and especially the tone of the music, a certain chilly, detached, continental-European cool permeates EIC’s sound. How authentic the sensibility is, though, is uncertain.

“I can hardly believe that it’s accurate, but I do think this imaginary Europe has allowed for a lot of great pop and electronic music—it’s one of the great mythological spaces in which one can situate a song. Daft Punk, Kraftwerk and especially Air love to play with these stereotypes of detached European cool, sometimes subtly but at other times taking them to extremes for heightened effect. I don’t think it matters whether it’s accurate or not, as long as people find it fun to believe in this mythology. Maybe that’s even what sustains it. Certainly part of me enjoys clinging to an idea of Europe as a place where beautifully detached existentialists dance until dawn to minimal house.”

There are, however, touches—the sunny trumpet on “Monster,” the chunky guitar on “Volley Into the Night”—that seem not so much out of place as intentional contrasts to the icy cool of the synth, vocals and beats. “We weren’t intentionally looking for earthy counterpoints. It’s more intuitive—if it sounds good, if a warmer, earthier element seems right, we go with it. Sometimes it’s not so easy to find how guitars and horns can fit with the drum machines and synths, and it can take many different arrangements to get one that we think works. But it’s never a matter of feeling that a song is too digital, too cold and that we have to come up with an arrangement that avoids that.”

Besides, how frosty can a band be if they’re prepared to cover a Raffi song? What the hell is up with that? “It started when we played a Raffi and Jonathan Richman tribute show in Toronto a couple of years ago. We put our own sort of Velvet Underground-y spin on ‘I Wonder If I’m Growing,’ a semi-obscure classic off of Singable Songs for the Very Young, and performed the song at a couple of other shows too. People seemed to like it, so we recorded it and decided to include it on our first EP for fun. So I guess the answer is because Raffi is awesome.”

- Rupert Bottenberg - Feature/Intervew - Dec 18, 2008