White Lies

White Lies – BIG TV (2013/2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:15:16 minutes | 877 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © [PIAS] Recordings Catalogue

The third album from the British Alt-Rock/Post Punk trio. The album was recorded with producer Ed Buller (Suede, Pulp, Spiritualized) at ICP studios in Brussels, Belgium, and mixed by Mark Spike Stent (Beyonce, Madonna). Features the single ‘There Goes Our Love Again’.

“White Lies’ third studio album, 2013’s Big TV, finds the band building upon the darkly anthemic sound of their first two albums with an added songwriting maturity. After touring almost non-stop in support of 2009’s To Lose My Life and 2011’s Ritual, White Lies took almost a two-year break to recoup and rethink their direction before heading back into the studio to record Big TV. The time off seems to have worked, as the trio of lead singer/guitarist Harry McVeigh, bassist Charles Cave, and drummer Jack Brown, along with producer Ed Buller — who also co-produced the band’s debut — have crafted a handful of highly literate, single-worthy tracks that still evince their love of moody, ’80s post-punk. Admittedly, the album sprawls to some degree; there are two instrumental interludes. It’s as if, after taking a break, White Lies felt compelled to try and get all of their pent-up ideas out onto the table. Thankfully, many of their ideas work. In many ways, Big TV has all of the characteristics White Lies fans have come to expect from them including driving post-punk beats, evocative guitar lines, chilly synth parts, and McVeigh’s prophetic baritone croon. Impossibly, they sound even more engaged and clear-eyed than on the ambitious, stylized Ritual. With that album, White Lies seemed to put a song’s overall production sound ahead of the song. The opposite is true with Big TV, and songs like the title track and the poignant ballad “Change” are deeply moving, emotionally resonant songs that still retain all of White Lies’ penchant for arid, ’70s sci-fi movie-inspired atmosphere. Also engaging are several euphoria-inducing tracks like sparkling lead single “There Goes Our Love Again” and the sweepingly romantic, orchestral synthesizer-tinged “First Time Caller.” Elsewhere, White Lies dive headlong into the deep sea electro-disco of the Giorgio Moroder-inspired “Get Even,” and lift our hearts cloud-ward with the pulsing Echo and the Bunnymen-esque dance-rocker “Be Your Man.” Ultimately, with Big TV, White Lies combine the urgent passions of their debut with the conceptual ambitions of their sophomore effort for an engaging, far-reaching epic.” (Matt Collar, AMG)

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White Lies – Friends (Deluxe Album) (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 01:00:21 minutes | 736 MB | Genre: Alternative, Indie
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © BMG Rights Management (US) LLC

“Friends” is the fourth studio album by English Indie Rock band White Lies. The album was recorded in Bryan Ferry’s studio and self-produced while the band was without a label. This Deluxe Album version includes four additional tracks.

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White Lies – As I Try Not To Fall Apart (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 47:31 minutes | 578 MB | Genre: Alternative Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © [PIAS]

Arguably one of the biggest guitar bands in the UK, it’s been well over a decade since the White Lies’s breakthrough single “Deat”h introduced a group for whom the fragility of human existence has been a constant touchstone. Now in his 30s, chief lyricist Cave’s outlook on the great unknown has evolved. “I think the side of death or mortality that I always find interesting is the fact we all know it’s going to happen,” he says, “and how different people navigate that.” The followup to 2019’s Five, As I Try Not To Fall Apart is their most expansive record to date, taking in explosive rock, electro-pop bangers, prog-inspired invention, funk-tinged grooves and some of their most indelible hooks yet. “We’ll probably never make an album in the way we made this one again,” says Cave. “I think this could be one of our best” says McVeigh. Recorded over two studio sessions, White Lies tested their resolve to get there, but they didn’t fall apart. They have emerged with their most vital collection of songs in years.
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