(SXSW 2015 flavoured!) Bands to Watch #325: Coasts

Header photo by TGTF Head Photographer Martin Sharman at Live at Leeds 2014
With the success ginger-haired maestro Ed Sheeran has seen over the last year in the States, coupled with the rise to prominence of the next in a long-list of warbly voiced singer/songwriters like George Ezra, I can only see the now London-based Coasts career going in one direction. The band sound and look like they’ve been genetically engineered to be an A&R rep’s wet dream. The lead singer’s voice has the same inherent likeability which has seen Ezra and Sheeran do so well in the last year. Whilst the tunes wouldn’t sound out of place in a club, in a bar or on Radio 1 or 6Music, they’re intrinsically mass-marketable. And I’ve struggled to find what *not* to like about the four-piece.
OK, I’m jealous seeing as they’re destined to be incredibly successful and they’re four good-looking lads who say they spent most of their time whilst recording sessions playing Call of Duty and FIFA. I mean, their music is sounds effortless, so you can probably believe that they are dossing off on video games. But still, the melodies on ‘Wallow’ are reminiscent of the kind of multi-million selling grooves which Coldplay did quite well off of on 2011’s ‘Mylo Xyloto’. ‘Oceans’ has a chorus which demands to be remembered and a beat which refuses to be anything but toe-tappingly brilliant.
They’ve already got a pretty substantial following on social media, with more than 30,000 Facebook likes and almost 45,000 followers on Twitter, so it’s safe to say these guys are no secret. In fact with around many dates in the States announced for this year already, some of them already selling out, Coasts are going to no doubt be hot property at SXSW, with every big label, blog, Web site and agency running after tickets to their appearances.
This four-piece are sure to be one of the breakout hit bands of 2015. If their live performances can live up to what they’ve laid down digitally, then I’m positive we’ll not be able to turn a radio on for half an hour without getting blasted with Coasts.
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