Suckers

Insound Staff Pick - 2009! Produced by Yeasayer's Anand Wilder! Quinn Walker (who released last year's acclaimed solo double-album, Laughter's An Asshole/Lion Land on CocoRosie's label Voodoo-Eros) and Austin Fisher are cousins who grew up just down the street from each other in a small fishing village in Connecticut, home to 35 tiny islands topped with Victorian homes. As children, they were obsessed with the oldies radio station. In high school, they began collaborating on musical projects, mostly improvising into a dictaphone with guitar, keyboard and found objects. In 2004, after Austin finished college and Quinn stopped bouncing around the country, the two relocated to New York. Soon after moving to the city they asked Pan, a good friend from home with an extensive musical background ranging from electronic music to metal, to start a new project.

Suckers merged as the sound and aesthetic of three one-man bands playing together. Pan, Quinn and Austin each played multiple instruments per song: singing, shouting and chanting in unison. The trio knew they were missing something or someone, and thankfully, that person arrived in drummer/keyboardist Brian Aiken, fresh off a year abroad in Hungary. Once Brian was on board, the band hit their stride, packing local venues and sharing bills with friends and kindred spirits in Yeasayer, MGMT, Dragons Of Zynth, Chairlift, Kyp Malone and Awesome Color, among others. Their heralded live performances feature group singing, primal beats, future sounds, Serbian interpretive dancers, trumpet blasts, religious truths and sheer enjoyment.

All four men are on a mission to break musical barriers and cultivate something new while keeping it accessible for ears inclined toward classic pop.