Semifinalists

Ferry Gouw, 24 year-old spokesperson of Semifinalists, arrived in London at the end of the 90s from his native Indonesia a mass of creativity and ideas. Soon after meeting Americans Chris Steele-Nicholson and Adriana Alba, themselves not long of these shores, their first attempts at a soundtrack for a friend's film were conjured up and messed about with. Goofing around in a rehearsal space from this period were borne the embryonic sounds of the Semifinalists stunningly original debut album 'Semifinalists'. Opening track 'Origin Song' and 'Upstream' thrust Ferry's medieval vocal to the fore, deliriously barking on the opener; 'He opened up the can of life, little creatures came up, out, out, out!' and then wandering off into song with a wide eyed, awe-laden stare. Last year's beautifully presented (Ferry designs all the artwork) word of mouth 7 inch 'Show the Way' features Chris on vocals and opens in a deliriously lo-fi, high-pitched innocence before a huge metal riff arrives to sweep all before it out of the way and into swinging Californian sunshine harmony. Each of the trio are vocalists - Adriana's disarmingly beautiful voice both opens the despairing 'Let's Kill This' and dominates the entirety of 'HWY.101' in an arrangement that sweeps you up before stopping almost entirely and wandering off ADD-style into an entirely new fairytale. Compellingly original it's a youthful heartbreaker of a song doused in long forgotten innocence.