Years active 2005–2017 Website chairlifted.com Active until 2017 | Associated acts Ramona Lisa | |
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Albums Profiles | ||
Chairlift was an American synthpop band. Caroline Polachek and Aaron Pfenning formed Chairlift in 2005 while living in Boulder, Colorado, and Patrick Wimberly joined them when they moved to Brooklyn in 2007. In 2008, Chairlift released their debut album Does You Inspire You. Pfenning left the band in 2010, and as a duo, Polachek and Wimberly released two more albums: 2012's Something and 2016's Moth before announcing the end of Chairlift in December 2016.
Contents
History
Chairlift formed initially as a project between Aaron Pfenning and Caroline Polachek at the University of Colorado in October 2005. The group intended to make background music for haunted houses. Along with bassist Kyle McCabe, Chairlift recorded the beginning of Daylight Savings EP at New Monkey Studio in Los Angeles, California in April 2006. Chairlift relocated to Williamsburg, Brooklyn in August 2006 and signed to Kanine Records in June 2007. Patrick Wimberly joined the group in early 2007. After writing and recording while Polachek was still in college, Chairlift released their first full-length album, Does You Inspire You, in 2008. Their song "Bruises" was featured in the 2008 Apple commercial that launched the fourth-generation iPod Nano. The single "Evident Utensil" was nominated for an award in the "Breakthrough Video" category at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards. The album was rereleased by Columbia Records on April 21, 2009, after the band signed with the major label. The rerelease included two additional tracks not on the original release and a longer version of "Make Your Mind Up". Chairlift went on their first international tour, opening for bands like Phoenix, The Killers, and MGMT.
Pfenning left Chairlift in 2010 to pursue his solo career in Rewards.
On September 7, 2011 they released the video to their single "Amanaemonesia" from their second album Something. For their 2012 single "Met Before" Chairlift created an interactive, choose-your-own-adventure video that Buzzfeed awarded the number one spot on its "23 Best Music Videos of 2012" end-of-year round up. Their sophomore album Something released via Columbia Records on January 24, 2012. Something features production from Dan Carey and Alan Moulder. After the record was released in Japan, Polachek co-directed a video for a Japanese version of "I Belong In Your Arms" with director/animator Eric Epstein.
Through the time Polachek was finishing her solo record Arcadia, Chairlift continued working on their third record, "Moth". "Moth" was released January 22, 2016. On the same day as the album release, Chairlift was featured on "Sweet"'s snapchat story discussing their history, their music, and promoting their newest album. Moth features 10 new songs, including the single "Ch-Ching", which was featured on snapchat.
In December 2016, Chairlift announced that they would be breaking up, with a final tour in the spring of 2017.
Collaborations and solo projects
Chairlift collaborated with Das Racist on the song "Fashion Party", the tenth song on Das Racist's 2010 mixtape, Sit Down, Man.
In 2011, Wimberly produced multiple songs in American rap group Das Racist's album Relax.
In 2013, Wimberly and Polachek collaborated with Beyoncé on the song "No Angel" from the album Beyoncé.
In 2014 Polachek announced that she would release a solo LP under the name Ramona Lisa. Titled Arcadia, the album was released in April 2014 on the labels Terrible in the US, Pannonica in Europe/Japan, and Mistletone in Australia/New Zealand.
Studio albums
EPs
Remixes
Songs
Ch-ChingMoth · 2016
Crying in PublicMoth · 2016
BruisesDoes You Inspire You · 2008