On Friday’s Eight Forty-Eight, Chicago art-rockers the Chandeliers stop by the Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio to play some tunes off their new album Founding Fathers. The group uses analog instrumentation and old-school synths to create blissed out, delightfully meandering jams that evoke German acts like Can and early Kraftwerk. 

According to unofficial frontman Chris Kalis, the new album is their poppiest yet, which is to say the song structures are a little more straightforward and they’ve brought in some friends to do vocals, as most of their previous work was instrumental. “We wanted to try something poppy because we’ve never done it before,” Kalis said.

The band opens for Blues Control tonight at Chicago nightclub The Hideout. Kalis, a graphic designer who teaches at DePaul University, likes to bring a strong visual aesthetic to the live performances. “We’re interested in the synthesis between visuals and music, how you can take something visual and turn it into sound,” he said.

Chandeliers plan to do an East Coast tour in the fall.