The Lightning Year’s creation all comes down to a bit of serendipity. Having individually stumbled around in the various musical corners of London, the five-piece crossed paths and found a common bond in music. Now the boys have released their joyous debut record “Endless Memory”. With the classic girl meets boy, gets high and falls in love narrative, the track is full of laser synth hooks and raucous guitar sounds.

Quite simply, the track is The Lightning Year’s big and bold introduction to the music scene and we love it. We got to chat to the boys after the single’s release to find out a bit more about them.

How did you guys meet?

Nics (synth) and Matt (vocals) met through their girlfriends and started making demos together. They posted one up to a blog, and were approached by Joe (drummer) who had just moved to London and was looking for a band to join. Joe landed a job in a music shop working with Sam (bass) and invited him to play with the others. Finally, Orlando (lead guitar) joined after Matt spotted him playing at an open mic in a local pub and sent him some demos.

Who came up with the band name?

The band name is actually lifted from a lyric in one of our songs, “The Beauty In Song”: “I wish you were around to hear, the music of the lightning year”.

You guys have been compared to bands like The War On Drugs and Tame Impala. How would you describe your sound?

It’s certainly psychedelic, with colourful soundscapes and dreamy harmonies (much like those aforementioned artists), but juxtaposed with a certain melodic and lyrical precision. We try and make everything we do provoke a strong emotional resonance in us and the listener, hence why a lot of our friends have called us a 21st century Beach Boys.

We’ve had a chance to listen to your new single “Endless Memory”, and we’re hooked! Can you tell us a bit about it?

It was actually the first song we wrote and set the blueprint for how the band would sound. Reverb-y guitars and vocals, dense lyrics celebrating emotion and precision hooks. We tried to stick to this sound-world with all of our subsequent songs.

What was the inspiration behind it?

Its basically inspired about what happens on a one night stand, the feelings and confusion it provokes and the mental aftermath, and how we all have ones that we remember endlessly. This is despite the foggy and often drunken state we were in, hence the title.

Can you tell us a bit about your creative process?

We get together and work on Matt’s song demos, recording synth textures, experimenting with production ideas and working out harmonies. We record everything ourselves at the moment, but who knows, this may change in the future.

What is it like combining your five visions of how you want a song to sound?

Well, at the beginning of a song, we all have ideas about where it should go and have to work through those ideas together before we’re all happy with the direction it takes. It can sometimes get tense, but the feeling of getting to end of something we’re really happy with is magical. So its a bit like a roller coaster, scary, screamy, but ultimately thrilling.

What exciting things do you have lined up for this year?

We have a headline show at the Waiting Rooms on May 11th that we’re all really psyched about, as it will give us the chance to debut lots of new material and really put over our live vision. We’ll also hopefully be playing some festivals (we’re booked to do Festival No 6 in September – thats looks amazing) and we’re also excited to be releasing the follow up to “Endless Memory” before our show in May.