If you like Life Without Buildings as much as I do, then maybe you too were frequently searching for live footage on YouTube with no luck. It seemed clear that no footage was going to surface. But, if like me you persisted and attempted the search again in early 2021, this time you would’ve found a newly available interview along with several live videos. And if you really cared, you’d have read the comments and noticed a Robert Dallas Gray thanking the channel for uploading the video and for “putting us up, and up with us.” The band included a guitarist named Robert Johnston. A google search leads to an interview where we learn about Dallas Gray’s name change and subsequent return to performing music. Whin (not a typo) is the collaboration between Dallas Gray and fellow Glasgow musician Martin John Henry. Dawn Firth feels like recorded snapshots of free flowing ideas. Improvised and jotted down, the sparse instrumentation leaves room for the two musicians’ lives to seep in--the voices of their children, the whine of a dog (maybe?), and the rustling of equipment all make the cut. To embrace their families during the recording process, Whin offered two tracks "What are you looking for" and "Tutti Frutti" as dedications. The children are encouraged to participate in the final track “Portencross.” The somber chord progressions are gently fingerpicked into amplifiers that are just ever-so-slightly over driven. Beautiful. Chefs kiss. All that. Dawn Firth has become my introduction into Dallas Gray’s solo work and I’m ready to begin exploring his album Reels along with Whin’s previous work. Just as soon as I can put this down.
Speaking of name changes, Horse Rider used to release under the moniker Bottle Adventure. Their split with Bedlocked featured “Jesse,” which is easily my favorite song of 2021, (I actually just stopped to listen again and you should, too). Bottle Adventures, this EP, uses largely acoustic guitars and muted synthesizers to pull off more tame, subtle melodies. Horse Rider’s ability to produce an EP that sounds like a discovered artifact rather than a pristinely new release is lo-fi mastery. And hey, the track “pristine” brings back “so soft you can barely hear the hook” vocals like in last year’s banger. The chorus after the “ba-ba-ba’s” is nearly unintelligible but I feel it rising out of my chest. An entrancing warble effect is created by a dissonant acoustic guitar (or is it bass?), but eventually the acoustic gives way and a disgruntled electric guitar makes a standout statement near the end. An EP crafted in the Texas heat for a bummer summer or maybe just the heatwave sunset soundtrack, either way, it’s here to tuck you in on these sweaty nights.
I hardly feel qualified to write about skramz in any authoritative way. Still, Ambitious Cards was a happy accidental discovery on YouTube through the sweetbabyjaysus archive channel. Though I’d hoped that the doomy skramz-gaze of the first track would have been more prevalent throughout the rest of the EP, the vast loneliness of Yume hits perfect when walking home at night alongside the rats of Bushwick. When the songs finally let loose, the guitar work is a tasteful mathy implementation as opposed to the overly noodly midwest emo meanderings I expect of this style. I can get behind the more rhythmic, fuzzed-out, chord-forward guitar work, but like I already said, what do I know? I’ve had a few people in my life try to introduce me to more skramz and the like, yet I can only get so far. Let this mark a border. Looking at all the ingredients–aggressive and angular guitars, technical and interesting drums, emotional and screamed vocals, ambience– should be the makings of some of my favorite music. Despite my shortcoming here, Ambitious Cards is sticking with me.
P.S. “Diet Black Cherry” fits with the theme of children making an appearance.