Kevin Bronson on November 14th, 2013

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That band playing the early set at White Iris Records night at the Satellite on Wednesday was a curiosity. Going by the name Bonfires (one of several we located on the interwebs using that moniker), they quietly released the album “Future Lives” on Bandcamp in September with a blurb spinning the yarn that it was the work of four dudes, one from L.A., who met while backpacking in Europe. Which was fiction, of course. The album was the heretofore-top-secret work of John Lambremont, a manager who has worked with the Kill Rock Stars label and bands such as L.A.’s Fool’s Gold, Hands and Incan Abraham. Lambremont’s DIY side project was advertised as sounding “like Arcade Fire playing to a high school prom,” which isn’t far from right; it’s indie-rock with that anthemic feel and communal energy and gang vocals. On Wednesday, Bonfires played as a probably-one-time-only seven-piece that featured members of other L.A. bands, and as a first show goes, it was lovably rough around the edges. There are songs here.

||| Stream: “Die Young” and “Future Lives”

||| Download: “Future Lives” on a name-your-price basis