Article - Attention System fuses sound for new Signal

Surrounded By Light releases Atlanta band’s debut

Bridging the gap between Atlanta’s indie rock and electro scenes isn’t as easy as it might seem. But that’s not stopping Attention System from giving it a go this weekend when the band celebrates the release of its debut CD, Wait for My Signal – the flagship release on the new Surrounded By Light imprint from Atlanta-based Stickfigure Recordings – with local like-minded electro rock pioneers slowEarth and Sonen.

“I don’t know if their crowds even know each other,” says bassist Chris Edmonds. “So with any luck, we’ll be able to tie together a couple of elements that keep this scene going and that kind of fit together.”

Comprising former members of such bands as Creve Coeur, Siberia My Sweet and Slow Motion Crash, Attention System itself came together in similar fashion less than two years ago. “We had all been playing shows together in our different bands,” says Edmonds, “then those bands broke up for various reasons and there were all these pieces floating around that eventually fell into place.”

After initially playing together, Brian Fisher (vocals, keyboards), Joshua Broughton (guitars, vocals), Jonathan Davis (guitar), Jason Curtis (drums) and Edmonds received positive feedback. Just as the Killers, the Faint and Shiny Toy Guns mix Duran Duran-style synth-pop, glam guitars and electronica beats, Attention System’s sound hybrid – enhanced by an elaborate light show – melds with Atlanta’s hard rock and electro scenes.

“After some of our first shows, we had people coming up and saying, ‘You guys do everything I like. You’re punk rock, darkwave, techno, new wave and hard rock,” says Edmonds.

The band has continued impressing crowds throughout the southeast. Last year, Creative Loafing readers voted them Atlanta’s best new music act. Always gracious to supportive fans, Attention System has been giving away demo EPs at its shows for several months and will offer a free copy of its new CD to everyone who attends this weekend’s CD release show.

“We have people that have been supporting us for a long time and we want to turn the whole show into a celebration of them as much as the record coming out,” says Edmonds. “So I think we’re just going to get everybody we know there, then get them wasted – then they’ll leave the records laying around instead of taking them home and we get to keep them.”