The City That Sleeps

Biography

A Silent Film is an alternative rock band which formed in Oxford, England in 2005. The band consists of Robert Stevenson (vocals, keyboards), Karl Bareham (guitar), Ali Hussain (bass) and Spencer Walker (drums). The band has released two albums, "The City That Sleeps" (2008) and "Sand & Snow" (2012). “The first time we drove into New York we were all crammed in a tiny rental car. We came out of the Lincoln Tunnel and 'You Will Leave a Mark' was playing on the radio,” A Silent Film vocalist/pian...

A Silent Film is an alternative rock band which formed in Oxford, England in 2005. The band consists of Robert Stevenson (vocals, keyboards), Karl Bareham (guitar), Ali Hussain (bass) and Spencer Walker (drums). The band has released two albums, "The City That Sleeps" (2008) and "Sand & Snow" (2012).

“The first time we drove into New York we were all crammed in a tiny rental car. We came out of the Lincoln Tunnel and 'You Will Leave a Mark' was playing on the radio,” A Silent Film vocalist/pianist Robert Stevenson says, recalling hearing his group’s career-opening single scoring a powerful moment of its inaugural 2010 U.S. tour. The Oxford quartet had just released its debut of epic and ambiently anthemic indie rock, The City That Sleeps, on Bieler Bros. Records, a Florida-based indie with an incongruously niche heavy rock profile. Despite the curious association, A Silent Film had an impressive American welcome. The group became the longest charting band on Sirius XM’s Alt 18 Countdown, shifted 200K downloads as iTunes’ Discovery Download, and sold 75K digital singles.

“Never in my dreams could I imagine the songs I wrote in my bedroom as someone else's soundtrack to the skyline of New York City. It was only three and a half minutes but it opened my eyes to the greater possibilities of sharing our music,” Robert says. The American tour was a transformative experience for A Silent Film and the group decided to relocate to Arizona and record their sophomore album in the rustic environs of the West. The band’s latest, Sand & Snow, released June 5th, 2012 is a snapshot of the fevered creativity inspired by an impulsive tryst with Americana. “Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan are massive inspirations to me. I felt like I always had a kinship with America; as soon as I could experience it, and I didn’t have to read it in a book anymore, I needed it for writing,” Robert says of the creative necessity of the move. “Previously I had written everything in Oxford, but as soon as I saw America, it changed my process; I wanted to live and breathe it.”

In addition to Robert Stevenson, A Silent Film is rounded out by Karl Bareham (guitar), Ali Hussain (bass) and Spencer Walker (drums). A Silent Film formed in 2005 and has garnered favorable comparisons to Coldplay, The Killers, and Snow Patrol. Its new offering is aligned with its formative poetic and expansive pop-rock aesthetic but there is a freshly confident depth and distinction evident in the writing. Sand & Snow is searchingly hopeful with emotive hooks and romantically purposeful lyrics. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.