Hearing can be misleading.
 If you listen to the four EPs that Vancouver  indie rock trio Arctic have released, you might expect them to sound like a mellower, more laid back and ambient Radiohead or U2. But the band’s sound has evolved since growing into a trio from guitarist / vocalist Marcus Martin’s solo show.
“People come in and have heard the music from the site expecting us to have an ambient and hypnotic groove. They expect us to put them to sleep when actually we rock out,” said Arctic’s bassist/keyboardist Kirsten Starcher who plays the Slice, April 22. She joined  the band about four years ago while she was doing  some PR work when Marcus received some requests for gigs and needed a band for them.
“We played one and then another and people  seemed to like the music, so we kept playing,” she said.
“The sound of Marcus’s solo music was very different and ambient. So when Arctic formed, we wanted to keep the music as close to that sound as possible. I added a lot of different layers and textures on bass and keyboards as the song needed it,” she said adding the band’s latest live CD, recorded at Zaphod Beeblebrox’s in Ottawa is the best representation of Arctic’s live show.
“We found the more we played the songs live, the more we realized how much we enjoyed watching people dance. And we were surprised at what they danced to,” she said.
“Our sound has really mutated over the years,” she said.
“Marcus’s solo music is really different and ambient. It’s very evocative of Arctic landscapes — cold, layered, textured,” she described adding she learned to play piano  at age 13 then gave it up for a few years before picking up a bass a few years before she joined Arctic.
The band takes their time writing songs and recording new records, so there won’t be anything new from Arctic for a while.
“Probably next year.  We’re very methodical. We only want to release something when we’re sure we’re really happy with it.  Before we record we want to  be the best we can. So we’re doing a lot of touring,” she continued adding  Arctic is looking forward to  touring Canada with a  band from France called Bruxelles which they hope will lead to a tour of France with them.
“This will be our first time in Lethbridge. We’ve heard a lot of good things about it,” she said.