A Silent Film is a 4 piece alternative rock band from Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

 England. The band consists of Robert Stevenson (vocals/piano), Karl Bareham (guitar), Ali Hussain (bass) and Spencer Walker (drums). Their first album, 'A City That Sleeps', was released on October 6, 2008. with reviewers describing it as 'a surefire winner'.

Critics have compared A Silent Film to Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

, Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol

Snow Patrol are an alternative rock band from Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland. Formed at the University of Dundee in 1994 as an indie rock band, the band is now based in Glasgow...

 and The Killers.

Formation and early years

The band formed in 2005. Two of the four members (Robert Stevenson & Spencer Walker) had been members of another band named Shouting Myke, which formed in early 2000. In 2005 two members (Benn Clarke and Steve Meyer-Rassow) left the band and were replaced by Ali Hussain. The newly-formed band chose the name 'A Silent Film' after the lead singer, Robert Stevenson, wrote a song using the melody from a song from a Charlie Chaplin

Charlie Chaplin

Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...

 film; the band agreed they liked the style and chose the name as a reference to Charlie Chaplin's many silent films.

The band released their first single in 2007, an EP titled 'The Projectionist'. They performed on the BBC Introducing Stage at Glastonbury in 2007 and their first album, The City That Sleeps

The City That Sleeps

The City That Sleeps is the piano rock band A Silent Film's debut album, released in a UK and US version two years later.The City That Sleeps was received with mixed critical acclaim. The original UK version of the album, produced by Sam Williams, contains 11 tracks, including their single 'You...

, was released in October 2008.

The band cites its influences as 'Love, sex and death, and everything inbetween'.

The City That Sleeps

The original UK version of the album, produced by Sam Williams, contains 11 tracks, including the single 'You Will Leave a Mark'. This single was number one in the Sunday Times Culture magazine's 'Hottest Downloads' chart. The album was compared to the music of bands such as Coldplay

Coldplay

Coldplay are a British alternative rock band formed in 1996 by lead vocalist Chris Martin and lead guitarist Jonny Buckland at University College London. After they formed Pectoralz, Guy Berryman joined the group as a bassist and they changed their name to Starfish. Will Champion joined as a...

 and reviewers described it as 'catchy and accessible.

After the album's release the band toured the UK and then Portugal where they quickly became popular. After a matter of weeks their song 'You Will Leave A Mark' reached top of the Portuguese download singles charts, followed by the album soon after.

The band have played and toured with OneRepublic

OneRepublic

OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...

, Scouting for Girls

Scouting for Girls

Scouting for Girls are a Brit and Ivor Novello nominated band from London, formed in 2005 by Roy Stride, Greg Churchouse and Peter Ellard. Stride and Ellard met in the Cub Scouts and Churchouse met Stride on their first day at school. They have sold over 1.2 million albums and over 1.5 million...

, The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins

The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...

, Temper Trap, Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells

Sleigh Bells is an American noise pop music duo. The group released their debut album, Treats, on May 11, 2010.-History:Based in Brooklyn, New York, Sleigh Bells is composed of Derek E. Miller and Alexis Krauss...

, Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro

Biffy Clyro are a Scottish rock band from Kilmarnock, comprising Simon Neil , James Johnston and Ben Johnston...

, Fitz & The Tantrums

Fitz & the Tantrums

Fitz and The Tantrums are an American soul/indie pop band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 2008. Their debut studio album, Pickin' Up the Pieces, released in August 2010, has received critical acclaim and reached #1 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart. They were heralded as a "band to watch"...

, Civil Twilight

Civil twilight

Civil twilight can mean:* The brightest phase of twilight.* Civil Twilight , three-piece rock music band who originated in Cape Town, South Africa before moving to the USA.* "Civil Twilight", a song by The Weakerthans from their 2007 album Reunion Tour....

 and Athlete

Athlete (band)

Athlete are a British rock band formed in Deptford, London, comprising Joel Pott , Carey Willetts , Stephen Roberts and Tim Wanstall...

.

The song 'You Will Leave A Mark' was featured as an iTunes Discovery Download as has so far been downloaded over 110,000 times.

In 2009, the song You Will Leave A Mark' was nominated for the XFM New Music Award.

In 2010 'The City That Sleeps' was re-released with the addition of two new tracks, Driven By Their Beating Hearts and Firefly In My Window.

In 2010 'Aurora' was featured on Linkin Park's itunes celebrity playlist podcast.

'You Will Leave A Mark' topped national radio most requested playlists, picking up first place at the Sirius Alt Nation awards for 'Best In Studio Performance' & No. 4 'Song of the Year' only behind Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons

Mumford & Sons are a British folk rock band. The band consists of Marcus Mumford , Ben Lovett , Country Winston Marshall , and Ted Dwane...

, The Black Keys

The Black Keys

The Black Keys are an American rock duo consisting of vocalist/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer/producer Patrick Carney. The band was formed in Akron, Ohio, in 2001. As of October 2011, the band has sold over 2 million albums in the U.S....

 & Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend

Vampire Weekend is an American indie rock band from New York City that formed in 2006 and signed to XL Recordings. The Band has four members: Ezra Koenig, Rostam Batmanglij, Chris Tomson, and Chris Baio. The band released its first album Vampire Weekend in 2008, which produced the singles "Mansard...

.

The band performed at SXSW in March 2011. As one of the festivals 'buzz bands' they successfully performed to a capacity room.

Multiple syncs on MTV's The Hills

The Hills

The Hills is a reality television series which originally aired on MTV from May 31, 2006 until July 13, 2010. The show uses a reality television format, following the personal lives of several young adults living in Los Angeles, California, but tends towards a narrative format more commonly found...

,The Hard Times of R J Berger, Investigation Discovery and an appearance on the Rockband video game have all helped raise the awareness of the band in the United States.

Albums

Album information
The City That Sleeps (UK edition) The City That Sleeps The City That Sleeps is the piano rock band A Silent Film's debut album, released in a UK and US version two years later.The City That Sleeps was received with mixed critical acclaim. The original UK version of the album, produced by Sam Williams, contains 11 tracks, including their single 'You... Released: October 2008 Label: Xtra Mile Recordings Format: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
The City That Sleeps (US edition) The City That Sleeps The City That Sleeps is the piano rock band A Silent Film's debut album, released in a UK and US version two years later.The City That Sleeps was received with mixed critical acclaim. The original UK version of the album, produced by Sam Williams, contains 11 tracks, including their single 'You... Released: November 2010 Label: Bieler Bros. Format: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...

EPs/Singles

Album information
The Projectionist Released: July 2007 Label: Xtra Mile Recordings Format: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,... , EP Extended play An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
You Will Leave A Mark Released: 2008 Label: Xtra Mile Recordings Format: CD Compact Disc The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...