Time: 9 p.m.
Cover: none

 Federal Lights

http://www.federallights.org
http://radio3.cbc.ca/bands/Federal-Lights
http://www.sonicbids.com/federallights
http://www.manitobamusic.com/artists/fed...
http://www.myspace.com/federallights
When Winnipegger Jean-Guy Roy founded Federal Lights back in 2010, it was a solo basement recording project — the product of stolen early mornings spent experimenting on a bare-bones setup in a cold storage room.

Federal Lights provided a bridge back into making music for Roy, whose previous band, Britpop-influenced outfit The Morning After, disbanded in 2008. Still, Roy wasn't interested in being a guy-with-a-guitar, nor was he fulfilled by recording lo-fi creative exercises for himself. The songs he was writing — earworm indie-rock anthems with big choruses and even bigger guitars — were meant to be heard live, and they were meant to be heard live with a full band.

Like all good music destined to be discovered, it wasn't long before those soaring choruses found their way onto Winnipeg stages. Roy enlisted the talents of bassist Rob Mitchell (The Attics), drummer David Pankratz (Quinzy) and his wife, keyboardist/vocalist Jodi Roy, and, by mid 2011, Roy found himself fronting one of Winnipeg's most buzzed-about live bands.

In fall of 2011, Federal Lights recorded some songs with noted engineer Cam Loeppky (Weakerthans, Greg MacPherson, Cannon Bros.) at his Prairie Recording Co. The result is Carbon — a debut EP that captures both the intensity of Federal Lights' live show as well as the raw grit of Roy's early basement recordings.

"Like a supergroup of Winnipeggers, Federal Lights shine on Radio 3 with "I Woke Up", a charming harmonious indie-pop affair."
-CBC Radio 3

"This is the stuff you put on an hour or two after all the guests have gone home and you want a soundtrack for being alone. Or abandoned. Winnipegger Jean-Guy Roy works some of the same ground tilled so productively over the years by Blue Rodeo’s Greg Keelor: quietly electric, emotionally unguarded, and so thick with regret, you’d need a hoe to cut through it. (FromCarbon)"
-Toronto Star

"Carbon is pure organic chemistry." 4.5/5 Stars
- Uptown Magazine
http://www.uptownmag.com/music/features/Local-Heroes-138958429.html

"Carbon, by Winnipeg’s Federal Lights, is a solid EP. The songs feature an eclectic mix of instrumentation and emotionality, making it a great listen." 4/5 Stars
-Uniter Magazine
http://uniter.ca/view/7373/

"Carbon, is a strip-down tune, which you wanna listen to while putting on your big headphones and closing your eyes, so that you can enjoy every bit of the emotional hauling of Roy's propounding voice."
-www.musicpsychos.com
http://www.musicpsychos.com/2012/03/cmw-pick-federal-lights-carbon.html

"Carbon, a pithy six-song outing that's generated some healthy buzz owed mostly to the warm and natural feel to the songwriting...album opener "I Woke Up" is a pretty pop gem elevated by a delightfully irresistible vocal hook and is a bonafide must-hear."
-Mykael Sopher, CBC.ca/Manitoba
http://www.cbc.ca/manitoba/scene/music/2012/03/01/the-buzz-about-winnipeg-pop-band-federal-lights/