Nothing makes you dream of escape like being stuck in one place. Songs from Echo Zoo by Night Flight, the London four-piece who blend shimmering, uplifting melodies with textured, atmospheric guitar music reminiscent of Real Estate, Deerhunter and The War On Drugs, lives up to the promise of its title. These are songs to evoke visions of California, Canada, even London itself, and refigure them as places that exist within the imagination.
Sink into the psychedelic world of “Something Going On,” the noteworthy new single from Night Flight. Seeped in colorful guitar, Phillips sings with bewitching phrasing (ala James Mercer/Shins) and vocal control, saturated in a world propped up by fuzzy bass shading and synthesizer swirlings. Surely the sum of their name, these Brits are aviators of their own musical domain.
“I was playing a guitar riff and the words fell out afterward though I do remember an intense feeling of paranoia and self-loathing. I was in a new relationship, battling with insecurity and not dealing with it very well. Most people will view the hook of “Something Going On” as meaning something great is happening when actually it is about suspicion.”
“The song was partly inspired by ‘Heart Shaped Box’ by Nirvana, with the intrigue the guitar riff provides at the beginning of the song. I was also partly inspired by ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden, with the heavy sounds in a major key. This led me to me playing around with three major chords and trying to make them sound as sinister as possible adding to the sense of insecurity and suspicion that’s wrapped within this supposedly positive experience,” says lead guitarist and songwriter Harry Phillips.
