Northern Ireland’s TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB is a music-mad trio whose debut album fizzes with invention and sparkling tunes. Rooted in rock and pop, with elements of electronica / electro, and Afro-beats, the sum is greater than any ‘indie electro pop’ parts.

Two Door Cinema Club’s story begins three years ago with three 15-year olds at school in a town just outside of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Vocalist/guitarist Alex Trimble and bassist Kevin Baird studied music together; guitarist Sam Halliday was a friend of Alex’s. The trio initially formed a rock band with a drummer, but after his departure, the remaining members realized“We were playing music that we weren’t enjoying,” says Kevin, “so we said ‘let’s write some songs, without any pretense of what they’ll sound like’. That’s why we find it so hard now if people ask us what genre we are.”

Experimenting included using a laptop to generate beats. “It was born of necessity at first because we didn’t know any other drummers,” says Alex. “We weren’t sure it would work but we grew to love it.”

By this point, the boys’ tastes had gravitated toward alt/indie-rock, such as Bloc Party, Architecture In Helsinki, Death Cab For Cutie and Modest Mouse, whose collectively leaner, rhythmic and melodic approach spilled over into their own music. Gigs were quickly secured on the back of two songs posted to MySpace, followed by a deal with French label Kitsuné and immediate support from radio of their debut single, “Something Good Can Work.” Two Door Cinema Club inked a deal in North and South America with independent label Glassnote Records in November 2009, and will be releasing the album early next year.

Recorded in London at Eastcote Studios and produced by Elliott James (Bloc Party, Noah And The Whale) with a number of tracks mixed by Phillipe Zdar (Phoenix, Justice, Cassius), the album simply multiplies the single’s surfeit of ideas and sounds. The opening track, “Cigarettes In The Theatre,” perfectly displays the bands light-footed yet hard-driving energy, highlighted by Alex’s vocal melody, with its almost dreamy brand of urgency. It’s followed by “Come Back Home,” a sequel of sorts; introducing a bed of woozy synths that build and act as a launching pad for a digi-funk backdrop that bounces, swings and rocks behind Alex’s confessions of relationships-past. The album, he explains, has two general themes – ‘love’ songs (“but not in a typical sense; I’m adamant about avoiding clichés”) and songs that “chart our progression over these past 18 months. Where we’ve come from to where we are now with this album.”

Prior to recording their album, the young trio was faced with choosing between the security of university and a potential career, and the uncertainty and thrill of the band. “Undercover Martyn,” “What You Know,” “I Can Talk,” and “You’re Not Stubborn” address that issue, and are loosely linked by the theme of arguments and justifying what you believe in. “Something Good Can Work” is a song-title that explains and justifies the band’s success, while Alex says “Do You Want It All?” is“a song of hope, to keep us going, with the thought that if we try hard enough, we’re gonna do well.”