Biography
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Years Active
2014 – present (9 years)
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Founded In
Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
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Members
- Emmett Ceglia (2017 – present)
- Jay Kohler
- Niko Hasapopoulos (2016 – present)
- Siddhu Anandalingam
There are at least two artists sharing the name "Semaphore": (1) a post-shoegaze band based in Brooklyn, New York and (2) a rock band based in London, England
(1)
Semaphore understands what you’re going through, and they want you to know it. Comprised of singer and guitarist Siddhu Anandalingam, drummer Emmett Ceglia, guitarist Jay Kohler, and bassist Niko Hasapopoulos, the Brooklyn-based quartet has been busy over the past few years navigating the lonesome loudness of modern life.
On the surface, Semaphore seems much like any other shoegaze band: they’re loud, atmospheric, and very, very moody. “We know we’re a bunch of sad boys singing for sad boys,” acknowledges Anandalingam, “but there’s a disaffectedness to a lot of shoegaze, an instinct to contribute to a collective droning, that Semaphore resists. We’re not trying to glorify numbness. We want to actually reach our audience.” This longing to connect underpins Semaphore’s work, lending an urgency to the band’s perspective, sound, and approach.
Founded in 2013 by Anandalingam, Semaphore released its first album, All Too Robot, in 2016, establishing the band’s scene-bending fusion of shoegaze, post-hardcore, and impressionist classical music. “It’s somewhere between My Bloody Valentine, Glassjaw, and Debussy, with a top note of angry teenage boy.” Their latest release, 2023’s I Need a Reason to Stay, develops and complicates that premise: “so much of the music made for young people is very blunt and on-its-face. Our mission is to take the music that was foundational to us as both people and artists and evolve it into something sophisticated and inviting.” Semaphore’s unique sound luxuriates in the shifting tonalities, airy melodies, and lush orchestration of their greatest musical influences, incorporating songcraft and vocals in a decidedly un-shoegazey way. “It’s the music I would have wanted to listen to in high school.”
(2) Hailing from Rome and Dublin respectively, three piece London based band Semaphore have been playing together in various forms since meeting in Rome in 2004. Finding their own individual identity in Italy, the band swiftly moved to London, where they found varying success as a larger five-piece group. Their original incarnation, however, soon imploded as certain volatile personal situations came to a head, causing the remaining three members of Louis, Loris and Marco, to re-assess their future together. As sod’s law would have it, the disbandment coincided with the beginning of a fresh UK tour. The three were forced to cancel the string of dates, save for a final London date at Camden Barfly as their swan song. Stripped of the samplers and effects pedals, which previously enclosed them in a restrictive wall of sound, the Barfly gig was a surprising revelation for the band, seeing Semaphore emerge with a previously un-revealed fragility and beguiling intensity. Newly stripped bare, the band had found their wings. Pitched somewhere between the rich storytelling of Johnny Cash and the hypnotic siren-call of Spiritualized, the band’s sound is expertly held together by Brennan’s distinctive deep, dark and gravel baritone, that suggests a maturity far beyond his 22 years. Semaphore sings songs about drinking, women and everyday disillusion. Their words are peppered with imagery from nature, the Bible and even the wrong side of the bar. Cementing their influence on the current North London music scene, Semaphore has been involved in promoting the "Why?" Club night at Proud Galleries in Camden and then started hosting the monthly "Stabokki!" Club night first at the Cross Kings in King's Cross and now at the Wilmington Arms on Rosebery Avenue (Angel).
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