SongVault Artist Profile

Charge of the Light Brigade is a collaboration between songwriter Luke Sneyd and producer Marc Koecher, with bassist Jason Eagan and Zack Mykula on drums. Sneyd and Koecher had worked together before on Luke Sneyd solo releases: All of Us Cities in 2007 and Salvo in 2009. This time around, they found they were moving in a different direction. New songs and new collaborators inspired them to reinvent the partnership as a band.

COTLB's sound blends expansive rock with strong melodies and dense arrangements, in a distinctive amalgam of punk prog pop. Sneyd's writing is underscored by themes of doomed heroism and the terminal tick of relationships gone awry. Their first live shows have already earned comparisons to bands as disparate as Social Distortion, The Pixies, Joe Jackson, Death Cab for Cutie and Spoon.

Luke Sneyd's independent solo releases garnered airplay on college radio in Canada and satellite alternative stations in the U.S. An early demo of his track "The Prisoner" was a finalist in the Unisong International Songwriting Contest, and that song's video won him a Top 5 spot in the Great Canadian Band Challenge, competing for a deal with Universal Canada. Since then he's been gigging steadily, building up the nucleus that would become Charge of the Light Brigade.

We Haven't Been Properly Introduced is their new EP. Recorded in Toronto, Canada, the EP showcases Sneyd's melodic song-craft and the band's soaring dynamics. Koecher's richly layered production adds dramatic scope, from the driving urgency of "Young Love" to the textured pomp of "Fastest of the Losers". The EP's an exciting taste of COTLB's breadth, with a full-length release The Defiant Ones coming later in 2010.