Putting a danceable twist on art rock, Krautrock, and avant-garde influences, Chandeliers’ kaleidoscopic electronic jams are artful yet accessible. Together the quartet of Chris Kalis, Harry Brenner, Scott McGaughey, and Lisa Armstrong have played with adventurous indie rock bands like Icy Demons, Killer Whales, and Michael Columbia and began making electronic music in 2004 as an escape from Chicago’s chilly winters, debuting live early the following year at University of Chicago. Their first recording, the Circulation EP, arrived two years later and the albums The Thrush, Dirty Moves, and Roulé (a split with like-minded Chicagoans Mahjongg) revealed more layers of Chandeliers’ entrancing energy. In 2011, Cinema 16 commissioned the group to perform original live scores to Wallace Berman’s “Aleph”; and Elmen Etting’s 1933 nature/dance film “Oramunde”. The grooves continued on the 2012 album Founding Fathers, deemed “one of the most exciting records to come out of the Chicago underground in a long time” by the Chicago Tribune. Chandeliers have performed at the WIRE Adventures in Modern Music Festival and Tomorrow Never Knows Festival. The group’s music has received praise from Pitchfork, The Fader, MTVHive, AdHoc, Chicago Tribune, WBEZ, Vocalo, AllMusic, CHIRP, WNUR, WFMU, KCRW, The WIRE, and many others. They have performed the music of Terry Riley, Moondog, Steve Reich, and the Residents. Chandeliers are preparing a number of singles, a full length LP, and a score to the feature film “Orders” for release in 2016.
