Indie Rock Hit Parade Live Session: Operators

Operators | photo by Emily DeHart for WXPN

Joining us for this Indie Rock Hit Parade live session is a band that began life as a spin-off of a spin-off. In 2012, Wolf Parade/Handsome Furs guitarist Dan Boeckner and New Bomb Turks drummer Sam Brown teamed up with Spoon’s Britt Daniel for a (as of this moment) one-off album as Divine Fits. After returning to their respective projects, Boeckner and Brown reunited a few years later, joined by keyboardist Devojka, to form Operators. Fusing rich electronic textures with hard-hitting guitar rock, Operators released their second full-length, Radiant Dawn, earlier this year. They stopped by our studios before a show at Johnny Brenda’s to perform a few cuts.

Our session begins with the pulsing “In Moderan,” which alludes to the dystopian futurescape of sci-fi writer David R. Bunch. That fusion of bouncy synth-pop and sinister lyrics is a cornerstone of Operators’ style. Next is “Terminal Beach,” which also draws inspiration from a science fiction author (this time, British novelist J.G. Ballard), but the themes of climate change and world destruction seem ever-contemporary. Finally, there’s “Come and See,” which Boeckner has suggested is inspired by the aura-reading demon Lorne from Joss Wheadon’s Buffy sequel, Angel. What begins as a propulsive shuffle eventually mutates into an extended outro featuring distorted samples and a cameo from every instrument the band brought to the studio.

Listen to Operators’ Indie Rock Hit Parade session via the XPN Media Player below, and check out some of Emily DeHart’s photos from the studio: