Spring 2013 saw gig promoting stalwarts Club Fandango turn 12 years old. To celebrate this highly unlikely event their in-house record company Label Fandango / Giant Haystacks is releasing 12 digital singles by 12 of their very favouritest new acts throughout this year, continuing on July 1st with the release of 'Lost Army' by enigmatic gothic dramatists DELOOZE.

'Lost Army' is the third single (and the first from their imminent debut album) by the tremblingly idiosyncratic Delooze and it is as fierce as it is sophisticated. Potent vocal lines pierce through the crunching guitar rhythms, menacing drum patterns and downright alarming electronics before the line "How do you command armies?" hints at a fragility behind the sonic thunderclouds.

Casting a mysterious and powerful shadow Stacey DeLooze fronts this collective, fusing together deep electronics with rock and classical instrumentation to create a dark and brooding take on dramatically charged powerpop. Drawing on Edith Piaf, Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, Bowie, Michael Jackson and Thom Yorke though to electronic pioneers such as Nicholas Jaar and Trentemoller, 'Lost Army' sounds crunchingly contemporary yet also eerily timeless. Throw in a live show which flutters its eyelashes at Zola Jesus and Bat For Lashes with its artistic unpredictably and set effects pedals to stun.

Despite cultivating a deliberately enigmatic persona DeLooze's last single piqued the interest of The Guardian and The Times and was widely championed on BBC 6 Music. On a stranger tip they also have a growing fanbase in Europe after appearing in Tallinn, Estonia earlier this spring. It all works too, for this is an act with huge ambition: from scratch Ms DeLooze has managed to craft a debut album which includes Chris Hayden, Cedric Lemoyne and Liran Donin, musicians featured across albums by Florence And The Machine and Alanis Morissette, and which was mixed by Mikko Gordon (Atoms For Peace). Not only that, but the suitably epic 'Lost Army' video was directed by Anthony Furlong, a leading figure in the creation of the Avatar movies.

DeLooze also has her very own fast growing 'Glass Army' that she has created an online hub for. #jointhemarch began to take shape in April after Tallinn Music Week, since when people from around the world have signed up as 'Glass Army' soldiers and uploaded pictures of themselves wearing DeLooze's badge in support of the project. Unsuprisingly all this shadowy activity has been causing a scowling buzz on the underground circuit, with their last show at Electrowerks a total sell out. Now DeLooze moves up along Upper Street to play a single launch party here:

JULY 3RD LONDON ISLINGTON ASSEMBLY HALLS
(Upper Street, London N1 2UD)
+ special guests HEART-SHIPS
Earlybird tickets are at: http://deloozelostarmy.eventbrite.co.uk

Support comes from Leeds sextet Heart-Ships, whose earnestly raw but irrefutably anthemic folk palavers have drawn admiring comparisons to the likes of Wild Beasts, Modest Mouse, Neutral Milk Hotel and other fiercely eccentric rock-and-rollercoaster riders.
www.facebook.com/deloozemusic
www.facebook.com/heartships

'Lost Army' is the third of the twelve Label Fandango 12th birthday singles. The first came out in April and was Medicines by Northern Irish electro thumpers Ed Zealous. Then came Scottish dreamgaze skywatchers The Machine Room, with Sweden. Fourth up will be 'Give Your Love To Her' by Sheffield retromantics The Hosts on July 22nd. All of these releases are available on a subscriptions basis through State 51s greedbag shop, with a bargain payment of £7.99 ensuring receipt of all twelve singles as and when they happen. Or you can just buy the singles individually for 79 pence when you feel like it. Its really up to you.

It all fits splendidly, too: invented by parent company fierce panda and working on the simple ethos of 'all thrills: no frills' Label Fandango originally set itself up as the low cost lo-fi easyjet of indie record companies. Over the past six years it has released early, pivotal and just downright ace singles by The Heartbreaks, Broken Records, Air Traffic, Brinkman, Moths!, Fanfarlo, Films Of Colour, Hey Sholay, the mighty Dingus Khan and Nadine Shah. Throw in debut tunes by Hush The Many (who evolved into Arrows Of Love), Freerunner (who begat Little Comets), Daggers (who reappeared as Hurts), add a sprinkling of other 'original artists' we're not allowed to mention here, stir and allow to simmer for half a decade. Serve with fresh bread and a cheeky wink¦

www.clubfandango.co.uk