Chairlift was an American

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

band.

Caroline Polachek Caroline Elizabeth Polachek (born June 20, 1985) is an American singer, producer and songwriter. Raised in Connecticut, Polachek co-founded the indie pop band Chairlift while studying at the University of Colorado. The duo emerged from the late- ...

and

Aaron Pfenning Aaron Pfenning (born Aaron Marshall Davis) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer who performs under the moniker "Rewards", a name he first used in 2003. From 2005 to 2010, Pfenning performed in the band Chai ...

formed Chairlift in 2005 while living in

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Color ...

, and Patrick Wimberly joined them when they moved to

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

in 2007. In 2008, Chairlift released their debut album '' Does You Inspire You''. Pfenning left the band in 2010, and as a duo, Polachek and Wimberly released two more albums: 2012's ''

Something Something may refer to: Philosophy and language *Something (concept) *Something, an English indefinite pronoun Music Albums * ''Something'' (Chairlift album), 2012 * ''Something'' (Shirley Bassey album), 1970 * ''Something'' (Shirley Scott ...

'' and 2016's ''

Moth Moths are a paraphyletic group of insects that includes all members of the order Lepidoptera that are not butterflies, with moths making up the vast majority of the order. There are thought to be approximately 160,000 species of moth, many of w ...

'' before announcing the end of Chairlift in December 2016.

History

Chairlift formed initially as a project between

and

at the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

in October 2005. The group intended to make background music for haunted houses. Along with bassist Kyle McCabe, Chairlift recorded the beginning of ''Daylight Savings'' EP at New Monkey Studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California, in April 2006. Chairlift relocated to

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a Neighborhoods in Brooklyn, neighborhood in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Bedford–Stuyvesant to the s ...

, in August 2006 and signed to

Kanine Records Kanine Records is an independent record label based in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, New York started at the end of 2002 by Lio and Kay Kanine. Their first release, ''NY: The Next Wave'', was a 20 track compilation featuring mostly unsigne ...

in June 2007. Patrick Wimberly joined the group in early 2007. After writing and recording while Polachek was still in college, Chairlift released their first full-length album, '' Does You Inspire You'', in 2008. Their song "Bruises" was featured in the 2008 Apple commercial that launched the fourth-generation

iPod Nano The iPod Nano (stylised and marketed as iPod nano) is a discontinued portable media player designed and formerly marketed by Apple Inc. The first generation model was introduced on September 7, 2005, as a replacement for the iPod Mini, usin ...

. The single "Evident Utensil" was nominated for an award in the "Breakthrough Video" category at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The album was rereleased by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

on April 21, 2009, after the band signed with the major label. The re-release included two additional tracks not on the original release and a longer version of "Make Your Mind Up". Chairlift went on their first international tour, opening for bands like Phoenix, The Killers, and MGMT. Pfenning left Chairlift in 2010 to pursue his solo career in Rewards. On September 7, 2011, they released the video to their single "Amanaemonesia" from their second album ''

''. For their 2012 single "Met Before" Chairlift created an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure video that

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John S. Johnson III to focus on tracking viral content. Ken ...

awarded the number one spot on its "23 Best Music Videos of 2012" end-of-year round up. Their sophomore album ''

'' released via

on January 24, 2012. ''Something'' features production from Dan Carey and

Alan Moulder Alan Moulder (born 11 June 1959) is an English record producer, mixing engineer, and audio engineer. Early life Moulder was born on 11 June 1959 in Boston, Lincolnshire. He was educated at Boston Grammar School. He had an interest in music from ...

. After the record was released in Japan, Polachek co-directed a video for a Japanese version of "I Belong In Your Arms" with director/animator Eric Epstein. Through the time Polachek was finishing her solo record ''Arcadia'', Chairlift continued working on their third record, ''Moth''. ''Moth'' was released January 22, 2016 and featured 10 new songs, including the single "Ch-Ching". In December 2016, Chairlift announced that they would be breaking up, with a final tour in the spring of 2017.

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Remixes

* Glasser – "Apply (Chairlift Remix)" (2012) *

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

– "Fences (Chairlift Remix)" (2012) * Indochine – "College Boy (Chairlift Remix)" (2013)

References

External links

*
Video: Exclusive live video on Punkrockvids.com

New band of the day: Chairlift
in

guardian.co.uk TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...

Video: Evident Utensil

June 2009 Interview
with

L.A. Record ''L.A. Record'' is an independent music magazine originally published weekly as a broadsheet poster. The poster usually depicts a local Los Angeles musicians and according to the magazine editors is meant to recreate an iconic album cover. In Mar ...

Interview with Aaron for Stereo Subversion (July 2009)

Artist profile on Kanine Records site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chairlift (Band) Indie rock musical groups from Colorado Indie rock musical groups from New York (state) American synth-pop groups American new wave musical groups Art pop groups Avant-pop musicians Columbia Records artists American contemporary R&B musical groups Dream pop musical groups Electronic music groups from Colorado Electronic music groups from New York (state) Electropop groups Experimental pop groups Indie pop groups from Colorado Indie pop groups from New York (state) Kanine Records artists Musical groups disestablished in 2017 Musical groups established in 2005 Musical groups from Brooklyn