The band began life in 2005 under the name The Revolts, with O’Regan playing alongside bassist Donagh Seaver-O’Leary and pianist Utsav Lal. From the ashes of their former band, Little Green Cars was born in 2008, and released the Volume I and Volume II EPs the same year on their own Little Green Records label. O’Regan and Seaver-O’Leary share songwriting duties, and are joined by Stevie Appleby, Dylan Lynch and Faye O’Rourke.
“Stevie and I have known each other for a long time,” O’Regan says. “We actually went to high school together, and it was one of those athletic high schools: We were not really athletic people, at all. In fact, I’d go so far as to describe us as the dorky misfits that played guitar.
“One day, a while after school had finished, we decided to bring it all together. Stevie knew Faye, and I knew the others and we just made it happen. It seemed to work from the start, so we’ve kept at it,” O’Regan neatly summarises.
The Irishman makes it sound his band’s formation sound simple, which neatly echoes the appeal of their work. This year’s Absolute Zero is their debut album proper – produced by Markus Dravs (Bjork, Arcade Fire) – and its shape and tone is at once familiar and fresh. Big singles like Harper Lee and The John Wayne recall some of the smoothness of popsters like Fleetwood Mac and Arcade Fire, while offering the Irish group’s own interpretation of the dynamic possibilities of alt-country and folk-rock. (In the latter song, the shift in time signature midway through the song exhibits a keening joy that a younger Win Butler probably once dreamed about, growing up among Mormons in Texas.)
“It’s hard for us to know why our music sounds the way it does,” O’Regan says. “On the one hand, we all have eclectic tastes in music: Probably the only things we agree on are Nirvana and The Beatles. We definitely don’t consciously attempt to sound like anything, or sound like we do now.”
“If anything I think [our sound] is the result of five years of constant writing and development, from all angles,” he continues. “We take any opportunity to write and record, and the recording opportunities are kind of few and far between at the moment as we’re on the road so much. We are still very, very considered in what we do. We do not rush anything, because we understand what our music can be. We feel that there’s a void in a lot of music, a void in a pop music, and it needs to be filled. I guess that’s what we’re aiming for.”
The band feel ready for their antipodean jaunt, following a six week tour of America that meant many hours squashed together in the van. “We were all living on top of each other over there,” O’Regan laughs. “There was very little downtime, or alone time, probably because theUSis such a huge country, and it’s even bigger when you’re driving the whole time. But that was our choice; we wanted to experience America that way.
“We went from Austin in Texas, across to the east coast, and then wound across the northern border. We finished up by going down the west coast, throughCalifornia, which was pretty special,” he continues. “We were able to make use of the time, though; we were writing all the time along the way. We all keep sketchbooks and notepads, which maybe is our way of ensuring we’re always able to record any thoughts or flashes of creativity we might have. Then we can take those ideas, when we’ve got some time later, and really thrash them out to find what works and what doesn’t.”
The recent tour highlighted the variety of people who are attracted to the band’s music. “We really noticed the age demographics were quite spread out. The music seems to transcend generations. Maybe that has something to do with us saying we’re Irish, and then people are nicer to us,” O’Regan laughs.
BY BENJAMIN COOPER
