My Tiger My Timing

My Tiger My Timing – Celeste

New Cross trendies they might be, but quirky new wave pop quintet My Tiger My Timing actually seem rather down to earth. After a flurry of singles championed and/or produced by names such as Andy Spence (Of New Young Pony Club) and Kitsuné, Celeste, their debut, has proven a hard-fought DIY affair, self-released on their Snakes and Ladders label.

MTMT’s sound to the uninitiated is best described as a fey, guitar-led electro pop in a similar milieu to Gang Gang Dance (in their more cheerful moments) and Le Corps Mince de Francois. Female vocals, soft synths and cogent lyrics, they all find apt expression here.

Celeste is a wisp of an album, a cool, melancholy breeze the more refreshing for its accessibility. Tracks such as ‘Written in Red’ are infectiously put together, shimmering guitars weaving in and out of laconic lyrics, and, like ‘The Gold Rush’, are minimalist in the sense that they’re stripped of everything not utterly imperative to a great pop song. ‘After School’ is more introverted; a tender melody and evocative harmonies make it a real stand out and a rare change of dynamic.

This is definitely music to be shared with friends. Driving around with the windows down, or blaring from the speakers at a house-party, it speaks of making memories and living in the moment. To this end, ‘Celeste‘ is a top-heavy and steady ride, which means no real sense of crescendo and a bleeding together of tracks, despite them mostly being quite lovely in isolation. The kind of album perfect for sticking on shuffle then, evincing MTMT’s conservative nature – understandable for a relatively well-hyped debut.

Ultimately, it could benefit from some variation, within and across the ten songs and 37 minutes, but at that it certainly doesn’t outstay its welcome. ‘Celeste’ is a charming, yet slightly nervous start four years in the making, and one I know I’ll be coming back to for some time. It’s always risky to wait so long but for My Tiger My Timing it’s paid off; ‘Celeste’ definitely has (nice) legs. - The Line of Best Fit

My Tiger My Timing - Celeste

London synth pop combo My Tiger My Timing are a riddle wrapped up in a mystery covered in a conundrum. How do you define their musical stew of quirky organic rhythms and danceable experimental hypnotic-pop? It transcends boundaries of genre and geography, defying categorisation and comparison.

On their self released debut album Celeste, a record nearly four years in the making, the unfathomable five piece don't make it any easier for us poor reviewers (aah I know your heart is bleeding for us). This is a band that defy the usual lazy musical comparisons. They sound exactly like themselves, like they are really comfortable in their own musical skin, which is somewhat unusual for a band on their first album. But, because lazy musical comparisons are the reviewer's bread and butter, I've tried to place their sound in some context and the best I can come up with is that it's a cross between an asexual, more downbeat British CSS, the kind of CSS you could introduce to your grandmother, and Warpaint at their most accessible. Does that help?

The album opens with the fluid, dark pop of 'Wasteland', a seemingly sweet pop song which slowly reveals a heart of darkness. Singer Anna Vincent demonstrates her impressive vocal range starting with some ear popping, glass cracking Enya like mezzo-soprano before moving on to the staccato, semi-robotic vocals of the chorus. The laid-back, chilled 'Written In Red', with it's jangling guitars weaving in and out of Vincent's dreamy vocals, enters territory recently commandeered by Warpaint and gives the American alt rockers a run for their money. 'The Gold Rush' heads straight for the indie dancefloor coming on like the Human League at their most populist. If you're not chanting "You do it false, you get it wrong" at night clubs and festivals over the summer of 2012 then you really need to get out more.

'Endless Summer' and 'Honest' are sunny, summery pop songs that are so sweet they should come with a warning from the British Dental Association. They sound like a candy-coated Cardigans dipped in hot fudge and sprinkled with hundreds and thousands, they're that sweet. 'Your Way' closes the album and leaves you with a slightly empty feeling, a feeling of sadness that the album has come to an end. It's a lovely, gentle, electro pop song to end a lovely, gentle electro pop album.

Celeste has been four years in the making and it sounds like a greatest hits album, which is impressive for a band yet to have a hit. While the myopic record industry churn out homogeneous, production line fodder lavishing their money and attention on talentless celebrities and talent show puppets, promising acts like My Tiger My Timing are left to raise funds to release their own albums. Celeste is proof that you can't keep a good band down and that talent will win out in the end.

Rating: 7/10 - The 405

F&M Playlist

Our music team pick the songs or albums, old or new, they just can't turn off

My Tiger My Timing This Is Not the Fire Having impressed as one of the finalists of Glastonbury's 2011 new bands contest, these female-fronted Londoners look well placed for success with their deliciously upbeat and groove-laden post-punk. - The Guardian

My Tiger My Timing are Anna and James Vincent, Jamie Harrison and Gary Drain, and although newcomers the foursome are already widely tipped in this industry o’ ours as something of a one to watch.

The band released their debut single proper earlier this month – visit your local record emporium to pick up ‘This Is Not The Fire’ (via Silver Music Machine) if today’s TotD tickles yr fancy bits. And if it ain’t there, well, everything’s online these days.

The track was recorded with Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club, which should tell you a little something about the MTMT sound – alternative pop with a dark heart that’s bursting with desire.
- Clash

My Tiger My Timing - Live At The Lexington, London

IIt's been a long road for My Tiger My Timing, the indefinable indie-synth-pop outfit from New Cross, from their first single 'This Is Not the Fire' back in 2009 to this celebration of their debut album 'Celeste' (which technically isn't out until July).

Anna and James, the siblings that front the band's boy-girl-boy vocal harmonies, think so too. “It's taken a lot of our time because we're totally DIY,” Anna says. The band self-manage, run their own label Snakes and Ladders on which their last two singles and first EP were released, and work day jobs in between time in the studio. “We'd work on some of the record, then run out of money. Make a bit more money, make a bit more record,” Anna explains. “You can't really stick to schedules when you're working like that.”

First up, Crawley three-piece Ornament Tournaments tear through four or five songs of no-nonsense straight-up guitar and drums, with singer Joseph Kent rocking the grunge-revivalist vibe in denim cut-offs and stripey socks. “The world is your oyster,” he yowls, “so swallow it down.”

The airless Lexington's only ventilation is bursts of air expelled from bass bins as the drummers deliver a positively sadistic assault on their skins. It looks like it's going to be a night for drummers – rarely do you see anyone at London gigs enjoying themselves as much as the drummer from second support Artifacts, who grins and gurns his way through the set, driving the train that carries his band mates' noisy guitars embellished with synths struck like percussion.

And so to My Tiger My Timing, who bounce on stage with obvious relish and launch into album taster 'Wasteland', warm reverberating synths laced with a Kate Bush-esque vocal trill. Their songs incorporate a capital city of influences – a South London blend of sharp, off-kilter Jamaican dancehall rhythms, the bright, shimmering guitar of Mali, Kenya and the Congo, and new wave synths. They blend luxuriant Scandipop with up-front rhythms and the controlled weirdness of Talking Heads.

'Written in Red' follows, one of two unabashed pop songs to arrive last year alongside 'Endless Summer'. “For us, pop is not a guilty pleasure,” Anna says. Filled out from the Spartan but beautiful demo heard last year, 'On My Record Player' is a highlight – a lush, exuberant ode to music's power to console and confuse, Anna looks more confident than ever stepping out from behind her Korg to sing, shout, punch and prance about the stage.

The three-part vocal harmonies fit, Gary's drumming is tight and Jamie's basslines deliver through half a dozen new album tracks broken up by stalwarts like 'Let Me Go' and 'The Distance', and it seems My Tiger My Timing control their instruments and not the other way round. Each song delivers infectious melodies and footwork rhythms, to which the inexplicably inert crowd here seem all but immune.

Closing to appreciative applause, 'This is Not the Fire' brings them full circle, still sounding as fresh as it did three years ago. - Clash

One to watch: My Tiger My Timing

The London alt-pop five-piece on setting up their own label and keeping the rock-star cliches in check

Basking in the midday sunshine, admiring the riverside flats that overlook the Regent's canal, the members of "weird pop" band My Tiger My Timing can't quite believe they are about to release their debut album.

Makers of lovelorn, hook-laden pop with a post-punk sensibility (think Gang Gang Dance or Metronomy), the band formed in 2008, naming themselves after a song by the late American musician Arthur Russell. They have since opened the John Peel stage at Glastonbury, worked with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club, and had their music played on Radio 1.

The five-piece (drummer Gary Drain and keyboard player Seb Underhill are elsewhere today) are based in New Cross, south-east London, "the cheapest place to live in zone 2", where siblings Anna (the band's 29-year-old frontwoman) and James Vincent (28, guitar/bass) grew up. Guitarist Jamie Harrison, 29, completes the line-up.

My Tiger My Timing began work on their debut album, Celeste, a year and a half ago, but rather than courting record companies, they decided to self-release on their own label, Snakes & Ladders, originally set up to champion other bands from their local area. "We've never tried to get signed," says Anna. "Maybe that's a mistake, but we never wanted to jump through the hoops you sometimes have to. But if someone's going to give us a million quid then we're not gonna say no, we're not gonna take it and burn it in Waterloo station!"

"We wanted to create a community of bands that worked together and could give each other a hand," adds Harrison, "but at the same time you would think: God, that single they released is so good, the next thing we do has to be better than that."

They were inspired by labels such as Rough Trade and Factory, particularly because "they wanted to do it for the sake of releasing bands that they liked, and their friends' bands, music they were into that other people wouldn't have heard otherwise," says James. "So we started a label for those reasons, it felt quite natural to us."

The flipside of this is that they need to support themselves with part-time jobs. "It's half the time being on stage with people clapping, half the time wearing a name tag," says Harrison.

"But that's how things are now," James says. "It means that a lot of musicians are doing it for the right reasons. If you're making an album and putting it out yourself, you really have to believe in it. Rock-star cliches have to be kept in check. You smash up a hotel room, you're paying for it."

As well as a new album and a single, The Gold Rush, complete with music video made from footage contributed by fans, the band will be touring in the summer, giving their alt-pop creations a rock edge for their live shows.

"When you come to see us live you get something different," says Anna. "I don't think you want live performance to be predictable. It should be on the edge of falling apart at any moment." - The Observer

Can the sound of a weeping heart induce such an illustrious dancefloor hit that will make you want to simultaneously shuffle your feet while bawling your eyes out? In this case, yes. This second offering from the New Cross quintet gets a flamboyant remix from Portmanteau that beats on the original with feist and fervour while buoying up their at-times thoughtful, at times dark lyrical intent. - NME

My Tiger My Timing - 'This Is Not The Fire' (Silver Machine Music)

This was almost single of the week, until Hook & Twin trounced it at the last minute, but both tracks are cut from a similarly hypnotic cloth. Like H&T, My Tiger My Timing slowly mess with expectations, tinkering with the trappings of 21st century post-punk and altering bits of their sound here and there with such a deft hand that it's barely noticeable. But it makes all the difference.
- Drowned in Sound

"...listening to Today's New Band, My Tiger My Timing, is the right thing to do. They're a band that have found how to be arty and not jarring - one of rock's holy grails. Thus, the least we can do is point our ears in their direction.

This Is Not The Fire quickly unfolds into one of the jerkiest, warmest pop songs of its unusual ilk this side of Born Under Punches by Talking Heads. It rambles freely in its self-imposed sonic limitations, eager to seek out every cranny of possibility. Conversation Starter, full of gentle punches of pulsating sounds, steely guitar shimmers and careful chanting, dreams of shiny space-pop and aims high enough to get there.

My Tiger My Timing are an example of a band Doing The Right Thing. Not only are they NEW! in spirit and sound, but have delicacy, urgency and the desire to make sounds that you haven't quite heard before. Ace!" - A New Band A Day

Everyday at the office here, while we're writing our articles and drinking our teas, we try to go through the many cds we receive daily and now and then there's one that catches everybody's attention, making everyone in the room ask "who's this"?

That's exactly what happened when Cari put on the single from up and coming group My Tiger My Timing. In less than 30 seconds heads were bopping and legs were shaking unanimously. This Is Not The Fire is so catchy that I've been listening to it non stop since Tuesday.

They play a delightful, totally danceable afro beat, electro-pop and still they compare themselves with bands like Metronomy and Casio Kids. While most of the groups desperately run away from extreme pop and commercial tracks, MTMT does exactly the opposite, recognizing their will for creating easy listening and fluid beats.

The foursome was formed in 2008 in south east London and their debut single was produced by Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club and will be released April 6th 2009 downloadable through Silver Music Machine.
Tuesday I had the chance to see them live at Cargo and I'm definitely looking forward to the entire album, it was quite an electrifying performance.
- Amelia's Magazine (www.ameliasmagazine.com)

Hot Chip- endorsed pop band, best NY resolution, ever.

“I made a resolution to take up Pilates and form the band. Now I’m only doing the band.” Anna Vincent is talking about forming My Tiger My Timing , a minimal and earnest London electro band that she sings and plays keyboards in. Jamie Harrison, vocals/guitar/bass, finishes the story: “We decided to set up the band at a New Year’s Eve 2007/8 party. January’s usually written off, this time we formed a band. We’d been wandering around in a dream-like state. Now the band is the dream. ”

We’re sitting around Spitalfields Market late on a chilly afternoon. They both seem really, really nice and pretty smart. They joined by Anna’s brother James, Gary Drain and Seb Underhill in the Arthur Russell-referencing, New Cross-based band, My Tiger My Timing. On their own label, Silver Music Machine, they put out pop music with its middle stripped. Their debut single, This Is Not The Fire, came out a few days ago, and it sounds distilled, concentrated – it’s electro with its bones showing. Anna: “We wanted to do something that was more about rhythm and texture, without any frivolous bits. We’ve been quite puritanical about the way we make up the song. If you allow yourself to do anything, it can be limiting, whereas a narrowed field can be freeing.” As Jamie says, even their visual element is stripped down, using only primary colours: “It’s become basic but vibrant, and the more striking for it, and the music is primary. Rhythm and melody. Texture and atmosphere. It’s almost a dissociative technique – you’ll listen, and realise that you’re hearing something created by a pop song. There’s something about a synthesiser that offers that difference of interpretation. You’ve totally taken away the emotion – you allow people to add it for themselves. “

If the idea of a south London band playing deconstructivist electro pop rings a bell, then it’ll come as little surprise that Hot Chip are all over this. Joe Goddard has produced some songs for them, joining Andy Spence from New Young Pony Club, who produced This Is Not The Fire. There’s a similar, almost unnerving not-fucking-about sense to MTMT’s plans, from releasing their music themselves, to playing in the with the lights off to prove they can. Jamie: “We never wrote down a manifesto, but we should have. Focus isn’t a dirty word. We rehearse the set for hours and hours and hours, so we can play it the dark, which we do.” Anna agrees: “That’s what the single is about – that moment before you unleash something, when you know the fire is just round the corner.” Jamie: “Even our name is determined… Ferocious and precise. It was either that or Super Bingo Bingo Time, which I still think is a great name.”
- Dummy

Back to London now and I’m (not so) slowly going around the world. My Tiger My Timing (era of strange band names) is from the south-eastern part of the giant capitol. Anna, the pretty vocal-synth girl has sent us their myspace-link from where you can download the songs.

I have been posting about a new type of indie dance music which born with bands like Foals and Friendly Fires. Somehow I feel that MTMT (Soulwax remix on the way?) is on the same wave. Not exactly cause they make it much more eclectic with afro-beat which is not my thing but I can’t really spot it here.

This is intelligent surreal-pop mixing up the elements of weird North-American indie and alternative dance to create something unique that vibrates and buzzes through the air, and if they are lucky, it’s gonna shape the future of UK’s indie.
- Kunk

My Tiger My Timing are going to be huge. You just know this. Whether it’s because their debut single was produced by Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club, that the press are drooling all over them already, or, how quaint, you actually listen to the music.

Debut single This Is Not The Fire is a pure pop song with intelligence and darkness brooding just underneath the surface. Taking afro beat rhythms, choppy vocals and playful guitars, this really is a song for the summer... Or is it? Haunting is the word I’d use to describe this single predominately, once you get past the happy dancy façade and look that little deeper you’ll notice the dark bass line, lingering sustain on creepy guitars, oppressive synths and group singing all combine to give an unnerving underlying feeling, just setting you on edge slightly.

This lot know what they are doing, keep an eye out.
- Noize Makes Enemies

The art student enclave of New Cross quirky indie-pop combos at an alarming rate but My Tiger My Timing are the best for some time.  "This Is Not The Fire', produced by Andy Spence of New Young Pony Club, is confident enough to abandon disco-punk in favour of something more buoyantly tropical, while still packing a chorus that CSS would kill for.  Very cute.
- Uncut Magazine

Proof once again that the fabled New Cross scene is thriving (hey – one band every two years [Bloc Party, Art Brut, Klaxons] counts OK?), let us introduce 2009’s brightest hopes from the creative hub and aesthetic bumhole of London: My Tiger My Timing.

Peddling a vaguely tribal electro like a south London Gang Gang Dance, MTMT have been making friends in all the right places. NYPC produced their debut ‘This Is Not The Fire’, Joe Hot Chip is doing the album, and they’re support at Filthy Dukes’ single launch soon (among a handful of dates across the country – details on MySpace).

Plus they’ve dived right in to the usual part-swapping remix orgy, having had their debut redone by Django Django and Tronik Youth and even turned dubstep by Example DJ and Chase & Status collaborator Sam Wire (in a version that admittedly stretches the term to breaking point). This mix is done by the band themselves. - NME.com

South East London disco-rock crew My Tiger My Timing makes music for the end of the party, that blissful point of departure where people fumble for keys, coats and kisses as the record spins on repeat in the background. The band's hazy mixture of exuberant tribal rhythms, jittery electro squiggles and retro-funk guitar licks are perfectly matched by singer Anna Vincent's mid-range soulful wallflower vocal stylings—think Hot Chip, but less nerdy and sexier. These are songs that inspire soft swooning as your sweetheart walks out the door with someone else. Of course, the five-piece outfit, which includes Anna's brother James, has little to swoon about these days since it is on the verge of blowing up in both the UK and abroad.

The group formed in 2008 from the wreckage of two previous bands, taking its playful moniker from a track by eclectic New York club-hero Arthur Russell. Russell looms large over the band's mournful dance ballads. "Even though we're basically a rock band, we really took influence from his use of rhythm and space within his songs," singer Anna Vincent tells CMJ via e-mail. "We also wanted to emulate the way he mixed great melancholy pop melodies with a weird avant-garde approach to structure and production." The band even recorded a version of Russell's "Arm Around You" for last year's Go Bang: A Tribute To Arthur Russell (Electric Minds).

After releasing two singles in 2009 (the rave-up "This Is Not The Fire" produced by New Young Pony Club's Andy Spence and the romantically crooned anti-stalker dreamscape "I Am The Sound"), the band toured extensively around Europe, collaborated with Hot Chip and got re-mixed a billion times. Now My Tiger My Timing is hunkering down to record its first full-length and playing some festival dates. The upcoming album will apparently reflect the band's rollicking, raw live sets. "Live, I think we are a bit more rock than you can hear on our current recordings," writes Vincent. "We may write pop songs but we try to come at it from weird angles, and we love the energy of a proper rock show. We never use backing tracks or any of that nonsense." - CMJ Sonicbids Spotlight