Premiere: Track A Lackin’ by Xylaroo

by | Jul 18, 2016

Xylaroo are Holly and Coco Chant, two sisters, two peas in a pod, two harmonious voices cut from the same cloth. They unveil their new single Track A Lackin here on RockShot Magazine. The song is out now on Sunday Best Recordings

Track a Lackin is the girls 3rd single from their fantastically fun debut album Sweetooth which was out last month via Sunday Best/ PIAS. The sisters are getting a lot of attention as the previous singles are all over the radio. The album is a beautiful array of harmonies and melodies highlighting the sister’s superb vocal collaborations.

The B-side, a cover of Gloria Gaynor’s 70’s anthem I Will Survive follows on from the great reception to playing the song live whilst out on tour with Mika. Much a kin to the cover of Arctic Monkeys on the b-side of their debut single, it is a playful version of a disco classic and is presented in a way you’ve probably never heard that song before.

The girls have been very busy out on the road winning new audiences as special guests to Matt Berry & The Maypoles, Will Varley and are currently winning over thousands of new fans every night out on an arena tour as special guests to Mika across Europe.

Similar to many bands, the pair (Holly aged 25, Coco 23) are a product of their own environment. What makes them totally at odds with everyone else, however, is that their environment has been constantly shifting since day one. You could say they’ve been “on the road” their whole lives. By their early 20s they’d tallied up more air miles than all the members of The Traveling Wilburys put together. Today they’re based in Canning Town in London where they share a flat with two other friends. But where did they grow up?

“Well,” begins Coco, guitarist and the more extrovert of the two. “Holly was born in Papua New Guinea where mum’s from. Then we moved to Hong Kong and I was born there. Our dad is a civil engineer so we grew up in the Philippines, then Maidstone for ten years. After, we went to Sri Lanka. Then we came back to the UK once school was finished.” Holly interrupts. “You forgot Switzerland!” “Oh yeah,” retorts Coco. “For a little bit we lived in Switzerland.” It’s no surprise then that their sound, which could loosely – but only loosely – be described as ‘folk’, transcends local open mic scenes and of-the-moment genres.

The sound of Xylaroo isn’t so much in your face as it’s a comforting place for you to relax your face when you need some inspiration. Their biggest dreams at the moment are very simple: have songs that sound better than bedroom recordings, score some more free t-shirts from Adidas, continue to make each other smile. Above all, they want to tell stories – their stories. Xylaroo will be playing [PIAS] Nites at The Lexington on 17 Aug.

 

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