Explorers – New Band Up North #26

Explorers, Chesterfield band
Explorers: Chesterfield duo Jeremy Dennis and Robert Bannister.

Jeremy Dennis and Robert Bannister are quietly cooking up 80s-tinged electro-alt pop that oozes romance and nostalgia. Gorgeous, carefree melodies take you to a world of daydreamers with their head in the clouds. Yet, their vibrant pop gets you up and dancing too.

Explorers take massive inspiration from the music and films they grew up with: songwriters such as Jeff Lynne and 80s soundtracks such as Restless Natives by Big Country and Joe Dante's film Explorers – which gave them their name.

Their sound has been described as 'modern 80s' and they proudly put that 80s sound at the forefront of their music, but they also sit comfortably alongside contemporary acts such as MGMT, Passion Pit, Phoenix, Empire Of The Sun and Hot Chip. Explorers should be the soundtrack for late summer evenings when the sun's still keeping you company.

Late last year the pair self-released their debut EP, Souvenirs, which they say was "our proudest moment so far" and no wonder because it's full of tunes. Their latest single, Alicia, came out last Thursday and it's getting me even more excited for their second EP due out in summer.

They're also tentatively preparing for live shows but they've been worrying they "could end up looking like Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins" due to the amount of instruments they have to juggle between on stage. They both play synth, while Rob Bannister produces the vocals and Jeremy Dennis bangs the drums. They'll be getting a friend to jump on bass for these Mary Poppins themed shows because they don't want to just DJ their music to the audience. Good plan I say. After playing their music constantly on my community radio show I had to find out more about them and share their music with you.

Video for new single Alicia released on 9 May

Dennis and Bannister are both in their late twenties and met doing a media course at their local college in Chesterfield. They realised they had the same sense of humour and taste in music. They also discovered they were both working away on homemade music and playing around with samples of old records, so they came together to work on new ideas. Then after producing some stuff for a small French label they formed Explorers.

"We are a Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Portuguese crossbreed of a band!" Sheffielder Dennis tells me. Bannister is from Chesterfield in Derbyshire but he was brought up in Lagos in Portugal "so has a nice Portuguese tinge" according to Dennis.

Being a relatively new band they've already had a release on Universal Music and got amazing responses to their music online. Now they're writing and recording their next EP and working away on how to produce their first live show. Their debut record Souvenirs is full of angelic, yearning vocals that reflect on past romances and experiences. Ticket Home is full of electronic claps and a pulsing snare drum that keeps you dancing. There's a backing track that makes you want to dust off that old Nintendo or Sega console crammed in the back of the cupboard. It reminds me of a racing game. You feel like you could be in a hovercraft travelling at the speed of light, whipping round the corner with bright fluorescent sweatbands on and a gold helmet with a mirror visor. Stylish right?

Wait Up Here is more sorrowful. Bannister sings "goodbye green eyes" to what could be an ex-lover. The pace and mood becomes more optimistic and the main melody is something Calvin Harris would proudly say was Acceptable In the 80s – and still is now.

Talisman reminds me a lot of Passion Pit when they first came out with their debut album Manners. Bannister shares a vocal similarity with lead vocalist Michael Angelakos. The angelic yet longing lyrics from Bannister, "I don't wanna break your heart", are complemented with reflective synths that sound like a soprano choir has recorded the track with them.

Just before Christmas last year Bannister was in Boston working and getting inspired, while, according to Dennis, "getting thrown out of Chinese Karaoke parties at 2am – long story!" So, perhaps the second EP will recall those parties and shine light on why Bannister was thrown out. Hopefully it wasn't because they thought he was bad at singing.

Meanwhile, Dennis was working away on demos in his loft in Chesterfield, where it all started for the duo. Dennis then tells me he's been drumming in bands since he was four years old! Whattttt? Amazing.

It's obvious this duo live and breathe music, whether they're trying new ideas out in a karaoke booth or genuinely thinking about how to perform live, they're constantly working. Even when the day is done they find themselves waking up having to hum a melody into a phone so it's stored for the morning and they don't forget it.

Their next EP is on its way very soon and promises to be "bigger and brighter" than their first. I'm hopeful it'll be a gorgeous summer record and that I'll actually be able to sit in the sun to listen to it, not the Manchester rain.

• Emily Brinnand is a freelance journalist, radio presenter and producer. You can follow her on Twitter @EmilyBrinnand. If you're in a northern band, Emily wants to hear from you so please Tweet her links to your music

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