Autoheart are a London-based indie-pop group formed in 2011, featuring founder members Jody Gadsden, vocals, Simon Neilson, piano and keys, with Barney JC, guitar, and David Roman, drums. The group formerly recorded under the name The Gadsdens.
History
Jody and Simon met and formed The Gadsdens in 2007 after collaborating on a song for a short film soundtrack. The band's debut single, “The Sailor Song”, released in 2009, was championed by Bob Harris on his BBC Radio 2 Show and was “Single of the Week” on Shaun Keaveny’s BBC 6 Musicradio show. The single release was accompanied by an animated music video by London-based animator and director Gavin Leisfield. The Gadsdens appeared on The Radcliffe and MaconieBBC Radio 2 show on 17 November 2009 performing three tracks; “The Sailor Song”, “Too Polite To Fight” and “Agoraphobia”. Maconie and Radcliffe have continued to play “The Sailor Song” on their show. They also placed the band’s live version of “The Sailor Song” on their “Best Live Sessions of 2009” end of year list. In response to the news that the BBC plan to cut Radcliffe and Maconie’s radio show from four nights a week to three, Marc Lee from The Daily Telegraph mentioned The Gadsdens, commenting “I heard what proved to be my favourite songs of both 2008 and 2009 for the first time on the show – The Last of the Melting Snow by the Leisure Society and The Sailor Song by the Gadsdens, both of them strange and gorgeous”. Q made "The Sailor Song" their Track of the Day, citing; “ A Charming and pulsating piece of piano pop that holds no surprises, tempo shifts or digital tweaks, it’s naturally sentimental, sending strong links to Tracy Chapman, mostly due to the vocal style of frontman Jody Gadsden”. The band were also featured in The Guardian's “The Measure” as one’s to watch: “The Gadsdens New band alert. The Sailor Song is heaven. Head to Myspace quickest-smartest” and MTV labeled the band as “Exquisite, outsider pop”. The Gadsdens announced on 24 August 2011 they had 'evolved' and were to be known going forward as Autoheart. On the same day, they posted a cover recording of 'Ordinary Fool' on YouTube. The song was originally included on the Bugsy Malone soundtrack. The band were featured as The Guardian's New Band of the Day on 9 July 2013. Gadsden's vocal style was likened to that of Anohni and Andy Bell. Autoheart's debut albumPunch was released on 15 July 2013 on O/R Records. Punch was produced by Danton Supple who has previously worked with Morrissey and Coldplay. The album was preceded by four singles: "Control", "Lent", double A-side single "Moscow" / "Agoraphobia", and "Beat the Love". The band's official follow up to their debut album Punch titled I Can Build A Fire was released 26 August 2016. In June 2017, the band released an EP titled My Hallelujah with four new songs. In 2017, the band released an updated version of their first album called Punch - Special Edition. It includes all the original songs from the first album, plus some demos, including "The Sailor Song". The most recent release from the band is a single entitled "Wretch".
