LCD: Soundsystem Snapshots

From tearing up stages across the world to being drenched in champagne post-gig, the ebullient energy of Grammy-nominated, New York indie-dance legends LCD Soundsystem is distilled in photographer, fan and long-term friend Ruvan Wijesooriya’s intimate series. After meeting LCD frontman James Murphy in a New York bar in 2004, Wijesooriya started documenting the group’s electric stage performances, hazy drunken moments and close-knit camaraderie right through to their epic farewell performance last year at Madison Square Garden. “Ruvan has been getting in my face for years,” jokes Murphy. “In other circumstances, this is basically illegal. It’s stalking. But it’s my friend, and I’m caught.” Over 400 of Wijesooriya’s images of the party starters are collected together in a new book forthcoming from Powerhouse, simply titled LCD, and bundled with next week's DVD release of Shut Up and Play the Hits that documents the band's final performance. Combining behind the scenes portraits with on-stage revelries from Coachella, Hyde Park and Art Basel Miami, the book also features an introduction from Murphy and interview with band members Nancy Whang, Patrick Mahoney and manager Keith Wood. “We like the same music and were at the same places often enough, eventually they allowed me to take pictures wherever and whenever,” says the photographer, who shoots regularly for DFA Records, The New Yorker and British Vogue. “The intimacy in the pictures has a lot to do with trust.”