While Dyr Faser began as a solo project, it is now a real band. Not only is it a real band, it's one that features Thalia Zedek (Live Skull, Come). Called Trio, the newest EP dropped on Friday and it's now time to get caught up with the compelling tunes made by this trio of Eric Boomhower, Thalia Zedek, and Katherine "Kate" Murray.
While the title cut charms, it's the superb second track, "Estranged", that immediately grabs a listener. Riding in on a few slide-guitar lines, Boomhower's vocals sound like nothing so much as Jason Pierce's on an old Spacemen 3 side. As the guitars offer up intertwining figures, the keyboards and drum machine patterns add texture. This is an excellent examle of the various strengths of this band. Elsewhere, "Don't" works up a fine Krautrock-meets-Thurston Moore-style riff, while "Just a Face" adds a bit of menace to proceedings, Boomhowever's treated voice echoing in from somewhere far away. "Koso Biru", featured on an earlier Dyr Faser release in a shorter version, is here expanded into a near-epic, all Stones-y takes on the blues filtered through a very modern sensibility. On closer "Hybrid Souls", Dyr Faser share a cut that has a listener feel like something is being barely held in check. There's a sense of doom creeping up through the near-surging riffs as the drum machine races behind them. It's a pretty good distillation of the band's sound and it encompasses so many essential elements of the post-punk era that it's a bit hard to even begin to categorize this sort of thing.
At their best, Dyr Faser make music that is beyond shoegaze styles and which remains poised somewhere between early Ultra Vivid Scene, Spiritualized, and Daydream Nation (1988)-era Sonic Youth. The cuts are expansive and a bit noisy at the same time. Soundtracks for a new landscape, Dyr Faser have taken inspiration from the No New York era as they've created something entirely more modern.
More details on Dyr Faser via the band's official Facebook page. You can buy Trio via the link below.
[Photo: Daniel Chavis]