Courtesy of the band.

By DCist contributor Elyse Blye

The Anglo-Spanish electronic band Crystal Fighters kicked off a three-week tour of North America yesterday to promote the U.S. release of their debut album, Star of Love. The album title, a reverse acronym of “SOL” (Spanish for “sun”) corresponds to the band’s fascination with the myths and mysteries surrounding Basque culture. With their show tonight at Rock N Roll Hotel, I’m nearly overcome with emotions tied to a different acronym: OMG.

Formed in 2007, Crystal Fighters is Sebastian Pringle (lead vocals and guitar), Gilbert Vierich (electronics, guitars, txalaparta and percussion) and Graham Dickson (guitar and txalaparta), plus backup singers Laure Stockley and Mimi Borelli.

Historically, an unstable mind and eccentric lifestyle have often been the counterparts to—and catalysts for—the creation of great artistic works. Van Gogh, Dali, and pretty much any of the members of the 27 Club, are a few of the many creative minds for which this formula can be applied. For Crystal Fighters, however, their namesake, sound and band identity can be attributed to a type of reverse inspiration—that of a half-finished manuscript for an opera left behind in the Basque countryside home of Stockley’s grandfather, who had written it “as he struggled to get to grips with the mental torment which he endured in the latter stages of his life,” according to the band’s online bio. “Entranced by the seemingly prophetic contents, the band assumed the name and expanded upon the wild and deranged spirit of his formative work.”

Star of Love is a strange and beautiful mix of dubstep-infused experimental electronica and the breezy melodic sounds of Spanish folk rock. Traditional Basque instruments like the txalaparta (a wooden xylophone-like device for two), danbolin (a rope-tuned snare drum) and txistu (a three-holed vertical flute), are heavily featured throughout the album.

In an interview with DCist, Pringle describes their sound as a fun blend of genres. “It’s dance music that everyone can dance to, and it’s total disregard for the law,” he says.

The first track, “Solar System,” builds up to what becomes a buzzy, bass-heavy beat that shoots the listener through an auditory wormhole to the far side of the sound-vibration continuum. Though lyrically sparse, it serves as the perfect jumping-off point for the album, evoking feelings of promise and what’s sure to be a fantastical melodious journey. “Pais Vasco to San Francisco, all the girls my casiotone / Daddy-o, mammy-o, I went to England and tried to find my soul,” Pringle chants over the rising and falling force of the beat, followed by, “Solar system, a soul, a solar system.”

In “Champion Sound,” the listener is introduced to more substantive lyrics in which Pringle opens up about the promise of the future and fear of failure. “Let’s hope that someday I play my concertina to an arena full of people / Or dream my life away dreaming of the day,” he sings. But above all else, what he really wants is something much deeper: “I wanna find my girl, love will be amazing / Champion sound, champion sound.”

Perhaps as a slight nod to the band’s deceased muse—one whom we imagine had a troubled, bi-polar mind—the preceding track, “Xtatic Truth,” showcases a starkly different lyrical theme. “We were born to be alone / Everybody all alone / Born alone to be alone / We’ll stand alone forever.”

“I Do this Everyday” is reminiscent of the heavy electric guitar riffs and the half-screaming, half-singing vocals of Sleigh Bells’ Alexis Krauss, while “I Love London,” is a quirky, frenetic drum-and-bass composition. “At Home,” and “Plage,” two of the more folk-inspired tracks on the album, are the surefire makings of a warm and fuzzy crowd sing-a-long.

When asked about which songs are his favorite to perform live, Pringle answers with “Swallow” because of the “huge dubstep drop” that gets the crowd going, and because everyone in the group gets to play a different instrument. He also says “At Home” because of the typically warm reception from crowds. Tonight’s could swell as high as the sun and the stars.