Infinite Shuffle

Whereas most of my musical discoveries come from searching websites, blogs and podcasts, I found out about Class Actress almost by chance.

I happened to be in Chicago a couple of weeks ago to see Freelance Whales and the Shout Out Louds, and I stopped by my brother’s place to drop off my gear. When I arrived, he started playing some songs by a band he’d just randomly heard while in a store earlier in the day. And so became my introduction to Class Actress.

As it turns out, I already had a track of theirs downloaded and, on my drive home from Chicago, I came across another of their songs via the “KEXP Song of the Day” podcast.

As far as my musical tastes go, Class Actress is on the fringe. They’re out there on the “might-be-a-little-too-electro-for-my-liking” periphery with such acts as The Presets, Golden Filter, Empire of the Sun and Cut Copy.

One music critic likened their sound to Madonna, Depeche Mode and Chairlift. I don’t know about the Madge comparison, but the latter two seem apt.

The group consists of vocalist Elizabeth Harper and producers Mark Richardson and Scott Rosenthal. Harper started out as a solo singer/songwriter but switched gears after hearing some of Richardson’s remixes of her songs.

The trio set up shop in Brooklyn and released a five-track EP, Journal of Ardency, on Feb. 9 on Terrible Records, the awesomely named new label run by Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor.

Overall, the disc shows some definite potential, and I’m hopeful I’ll like whatever they put out next.

Here are my two favorite songs  …

Class Actress – Careful What You Say