New London Fire Ready New Album

Nov 4 2005

There’s a shimmering spark in a snowstorm. Every few beats, it escapes suffocation by an opportune breath and defiantly perseveres until it becomes a glow. From the glow, a white globe of heat. New Jersey’s New London Fire became an inferno from a few stray incendiary components blowing in the same direction. Fighting against an uncompromising climate, members David and Jason Debiak, Rich Polatchek, and Jonathan Lam decided to team their creative efforts after years of individual musical endeavors.

The Debiak brothers had spent six toilsome years as members of Sleep Station touring with an unstable roster in a tour van on its deathbed. The stress, in tandem with the regular tornadoes and violent drunks, was more than a few kids from the quiet North Jersey hills could endure. Dave and Jason persisted in creating solid and beloved underground indie records such as Hang in there Charlie and After The War. No matter how many shows were played or records released, luck always seemed to be just beyond reach.

During many of these tempestuous touring spells, childhood friend and “multi-instrumentalist” Rich Polatchek had been Sleep Station’s fill-in drummer. Rich as been playing music his entire life in one capacity or another. As precocious 12 year olds, Rich and Jason used to watch Dave rehearse in his garage - with Dave’s permission of course. Ironic that 10 years later, Rich would become the full time drummer in NLF. Jazz trained and proficient in a handful of instruments, Rich has recently been lending his talents on trumpet to other bands, including Eyeball label mates Kiss Kiss.

Soon after Rich’s inception, guitarist Jonathan Lam, also of New Jersey, was introduced to the Debiak brothers by Rich during the formation of NLF. Prior to joining the band and building the distinctive wall of sound heard on “I Sing the Body Holographic,” Jonathan spent a lot of time after college traveling to Europe and Asia. Spending so much time teaching and practicing turned out to be fortunate for the rest of the band when they found themselves endowed with a “refreshingly brilliant” guitar player.

In Spring 2005, when all four members finally met and recorded the album, the chemistry was undeniable. With the help of producer D. James Goodwin, the band created an album which all of the members felt lived up to their potential. If a young, angsty Michael Jackson produced a Cars song everyday for three weeks, you might get a hint of NLF’s elegant urgency. The band’s gushing melodies are fused with terse and somber samples to create an aural blueprint of something distinct and lustrous. New London Fire’s debut album of flawless electro pop consonance, I Sing the Body Holographic, is to be released in early 2006.

You can download the free digital EP A Wave Form at awaveform.com