NEW CITY (stylized in

all caps In typography, all caps (short for "all capitals") refers to text or a font in which all letters are capital letters, for example: "THIS TEXT IS IN ALL CAPS". All caps may be used for emphasis (for a word or phrase). They are commonly seen in ...

) is a Canadian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

and

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

trio based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

– consisting of Chase Ellestad (vocals, piano, production), Jed Webster (guitar, production) and Nathan Brown (drums, production). The band previously included Adrian Mitchell (vocals), who left the group in 2019. In 2017, NEW CITY released their first song, "Coachella", an homage to the music festival of the same name. The track has since amassed almost two million streams, including nearly 1.5 million streams on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, with '' Clash'' magazine declaring it a "perfect pop confection." New City released a music video for the track, with the band channeling the party atmosphere of the desert festival – despite never having been. The follow-up, the

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

-inflected "Dirty Secrets," was the most added

CanCon Canadian content (abbreviated CanCon, cancon or can-con; ) refers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requirements, derived from the Broadcasting Act of Canada, that radio and television Broadcasting, broadc ...

single at Canadian pop radio on the week of release. The track entered the Canadian radio chart at number 22, jumping seven spots in two weeks and clearing four million streams. "With the irresistible pop sensibilities of New City," wrote ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', "they are a secret you'll want to share."

History

They were formed in 2017 out of two separate projects. Webster and Brown are lifelong friends who grew up together in the small farming community of

Sussex, New Brunswick Sussex is a town in Kings County, New Brunswick, Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. Sussex is located in south central New Brunswick, between the province's three largest cities, Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton. Sussex straddles the ...

; Webster's influences included blues guitar heroes (

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

Muddy Waters McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 April 30, 1983), known professionally as Muddy Waters, was an American blues singer and musician who was an important figure in the post-war blues scene, and is often cited as the "father of modern Chicago b ...

), while Brown was more focused on rock groups before discovering

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

in high school. The pair moved to

when they met R&B fan Mitchell, born in

Oro-Medonte Oro-Medonte is a township in south-central Ontario, Canada, on the northwestern shores of Lake Simcoe in Simcoe County. The two neighbouring townships of Oro and Medonte were merged in 1994, under a restructuring of Simcoe County. It is divide ...

in central

who was trying to make it as a solo artist, at a hotel party and quickly joined forces. In 2019, Mitchell was released from the band for unknown reasons. The band parted ways with their Canadian label Universal Music Canada soon after.

Musical style

NEW CITY's music style has been described as

electropop Electropop is a hybrid music genre combining elements of electronic and pop genres. Writer Hollin Jones has described it as a variant of synth-pop with heavy emphasis on its electronic sound. The genre was developed in the 1980s and saw a re ...

, pop, and

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 ...

Discography

EPs

* ''For My Eyes Only'' (2018)

Singles

References

External links

* {{Authority control Capitol Records artists Canadian musical trios Canadian electronic music groups Musical groups from Toronto Musical groups established in 2017 2017 establishments in Ontario