Black City Lights UK & EU tour dates:

May 3 – London, The Good Ship
May 6 – Bristol, Start The Bus
May 7 – London, Hoxton Square Bar and Kitchen
May 8-10 – Brighton, The Great Escape Festival
May 15 – Cambridge, Darwin Bar
May 24 – Newcastle, TBC
May 28 – Edinburgh, Henry’s Cellar Bar
May 29 – Glasgow, The Roxy
May 31 – Aberdeen, Café Drummond
June 13 – Berlin, Devise Magazine Festival
June 20 – Paris, Espace B

Supporting The Naked and Famous:

June 22 – Bologna, Cortile del Castello Estense
June 24 – Warsaw, Palladium
June 25 – Budapest, A38
June 26 – Graz, Kasematten
July 2 – London, Shepherd’s Bush Empire

With dark voices, neon beats, and ghostly electronics that evoke the apocalyptic modernism of a 1980s Blade Runner, it may come as a surprise to learn that Black City Lights hail from the quiet bay city of Wellington, New Zealand. With traces of Austra, Zola Jesus, and The XX, their progressive and cinematic sound has already captured international attention in little over a year. Comprised of wunderkind producer Calum Robb and power-house vocalist Julia Catherine Parr, Black City Lights create soaring and spacious soundtracks to midnight drives, back-alley cigarettes, and regretful yeses.

Robb spent 2010 lurking in the background of the Wellington music scene, inspired by the bedroom-studio ethos of inexpensive hardware and audio software like Ableton Live. With no musical experience beyond a few years of piano, Robb began picking up production tips from the likes of Daniel Johnston (Red Steers), and was soon writing music late in 2010. Through mutual friends, Robb met Parr, a trained vocalist who was studying music at Victoria University. What started off as a one-track experiment (“Collapsing Horizon”) soon turned into a permanent partnership, with Robb’s expansive, frosty landscapes shimmering beautifully with Parr’s bold and soulful voice.

In March of 2012, Black City Lights released their debut EP Parallels via Brooklyn imprint Stars & Letters. Local and international accolades quickly followed, including copious blog coverage, high-profile support slots, and two prestigious New Zealand On Air grants to fund their videos. Having polished their live set by supporting the likes of Grimes, Baths, and Daedalus, Black City Lights toured the USA for three months in support of their 2013 debut album Another Life, and are now heading out on a UK & EU tour, including multiple appearances at The Great Escape Festival and five shows in support of their compatriots The Naked and Famous.

“Black City Lights has caught everyone completely off guard with their musical professionalism and dusky, enveloping mood… the entirety of Parallels plays with an effortless genius” — In Your Speakers

“A cinematic style ride that is both chilling and exhilarating” — Through My Headphones

“Black City Lights is too good to ignore… They have our attention in a big way” — Witness This

“Simply captivating… a joy to listen to” — Some Kind of Awesome

“Their debut EP is simply stunning” — The Work Magazine

“Amazing” — Hearing Gold

“Deep and grounded, robust and feathery… a fine ride” — Fingertips

“Dark, progressive and cinematic” — Sounds Better With Reverb

“Beautiful, alluring vocals and haunting electronic sounds” — The Owl Mag

“Fountainous vocals flow, synthesizers swoon” — IMPOSE Magazine

“Making music with a ghost in the machine quality, they combine traditional lyric-based songwriting with sleek, chrome plated electronic structures” — RIP IT UP Magazine

iTunes | Amazon | Bandcamp | Spotify

iTunes | Amazon | Bandcamp | Spotify

iTunes | Amazon | Bandcamp | Spotify