The Whitest Boy Alive

Don’t take their name too seriously; The Whitest Boy Alive were clearly going for tongue-in-cheek when they selected that moniker, because there’s nothing especially restricted about their music; they had one of the most diverse sounds in indie pop, incorporating touches of jazz, funk, eighties new wave and even, at times, house. They only turned out two records - Dreams in 2006, and a follow-up in Rules in 2009 - but continued to tour prodigiously, and it was on stage that their unique sound really came to blossom. Singer, Erland Oye, who looks like Norway’s answer to Brendan Canning from Broken Social Scene, might have fronted the band, but in truth, The Whitest Boy Alive’s live shows were about as collaborative as gigs get. In front of a large LED screen displaying minimalist visuals, the four-piece took advantage of the fluidity of their sound, often jamming out their tracks and allowing them to segue into one another. They did it all between the four of them, too, with pretty much every member serving as a multi-instrumentalist onstage, eschewing the need for extra members. Last month, they announced that they’d disbanded, ruling out the prospect of further dates; it’d be a shame if they didn’t reform at some point, because they were one of the most intriguing propositions in indie.