Sailboats Are White

The small city of Hamilton, Ontario, used to be known musically only for homeboy Daniel Lanois (U2, Bob Dylan) and his Eno-influenced soundscapes. More recently, electronic new wave revival acts like Manitoba (aka Caribou) and the Junior Boys have recast the city's image. Hamilton's Sailboats Are White continues that retro-futuristic trend with a sound combining primitive synth noise akin to Suicide and the early Human League, the hectoring, talk-sing vocal style of the Fall's Mark E. Smith (minus-uh Smith's inimitable-uh stylistic quirks-uh, naturally) and a deceptive knack for catchy pop-punk hooks. Singer Kevin Douglas, guitarist and primary songwriter Kevyn Wright, keyboardist Chris McInerny, and bassist Matt Bourassa formed Sailboats Are White in Hamilton in 2003; their inability to find a drummer led to the quartet performing to drum machine tracks pre-programmed by Wright, who has termed the resulting sound "electronic by accident." Sailboats Are White released their debut album, Turbo!, on the tiny Let's Just Have Some Fun label, distributed by local indie heavyweights Sonic Unyon, in 2005. After McInerny was replaced by Joel Elliott in early 2006, Alan McGee's Poptones label reissued Turbo! in October 2006.