Kishi Bashi: 'Sonderlust' LP (2016)...

Keaton Henson: 'Kindly Now' LP (2016)

Deep Sea Diver: Secrets Sublime (Album Review)

In a few months’ time most music magazines, well known newspapers as well as bloggers worldwide will be publishing, posting and babbling about their best 2016 albums list. Many of us will be surprised about some of the choices, but in general, there will be some sort of temptation to rank as much mainstream sonic boredom as possible on the top ten of most magazines, whether on paper or digital. After all, the music industry must have its share of return over investment, which proves that neurologically the common sense listener is easily lured by the “one chord progression fits all ears” algorithmic formulas of success.

These introducing words go to say that I do not expect to see the album I am reviewing in this post highly ranked in most of all the year end lists. Apart from such a future factuality if there’s one thing that I can assure, unless I have suddenly got deaf and dumb, is that the album in question here hardly isn’t, and according to my assessment, the best album from all those released so far this year. Without any overexcitement or exaggeration, it is a breathtaking gem, a source of endless pleasure.

If we stick to the listener’s perspective, the aural experience can vary in grade and intensity. There are albums that pluck the right chord at the wrong time and those which supposedly pluck the wrong chord at the right time. Thankfully, there are a few that pluck the right chord at the right time and these are often the albums of a lifetime. Those that will make any season perfectly comfortable. These sorts of albums belong to a timeless order where one is oddly struck with some fierce universal energy in a singular moment and that generates a specific inner harmony whatever that means.

Either they are deeply skingasmic or ephemerally spiritgasmic this type of albums is artistically equivalent to comets and shooting stars. They only come from time to time, but they bring the same glamorous feast of light even when they sound dark sad melancholic built upon some muffled anger. There are albums that are only a poor assemblage of songs; they aren’t even an orderly purposeful collection although with no particular intrinsicality. They are made instantaneous to be consumed like mashed potato for the eardrum. Just like matches burning to the speed of light. They are not intense; there is no depth in them. They are the sort of albums made to numb not to instill any kind of awareness in the ones who appreciate it. Aseptic. They are made for very shallow waters definitely not for a deep liberating plunge.

The album I am essaying to write about was released this year February 19 while the world was still recovering from the death of David Bowie and all the others that followed. The world was in a freaking state of shock eulogizing BLACKSTAR because it would not be trendy to do otherwise. People can be monotonous as fuck. So much good music emerging out there, from so many talented and highly promising musicians, but due to the circumstances, it is no easy task to catch people’s attention. They are, either too focused on the influence of a legacy or too excited with the prospects of a new long awaited album from any musician with very good press.

While for different reasons people were mourning iconic artists, the best album of 2016 first semester was due out. A Seattle based indie rock four piece managed to make a bold masterpiece without much fuss in a world, amidst the turbulence of an artistic sense of loss. They named their delicate work of art “Secrets” and secrets like theirs, ought to be treated like priceless treasures. These “Secrets” were told us by a fabulous musician, singer-songwriter who answers by the name of Jessica Dobson and her troupe of equally amazing diver musicians. They are Deep Sea Diver and they are a rare case of wonderment.

In order to cut a long story short, I’ll state that Deep Sea Diver debut EP “New Caves” came out in 2009 after Jessica Dobson parted ways with Atlantic Records. Their first full-length “History Speaks” appeared three years later and it was the stepping out of the shadows or to be more precise the plunge into depths never experimented before by Jessica and her three diving companions. The next step was the release of their 2014 “Always Waiting” EP. Jessica Dobson was committed to release Deep Sea Diver sophomore album around March/April 2015 as a way to ride the band’s momentum of creativity and cohesiveness but due to further advice, their soulful masterpiece suffered a nine-month delay and was only released February 2016.

Probably good counselling given to her, though I believe that such a wonderful album could have been released anytime. It is too precious an album, too masterfully crafted and its lyrical circumstances and existential angst perfectly translates the human experience. Afterwards, Jessica Dobson plunged into anxious waters and accepted the fact that her sonic gem would have to marinate for almost a whole year before turning into the sacred record it would become.

What is so special about Deep Sea Diver’s “Secrets”? Everything I am tempted to say. Just as the name of the band that made it possible this is an album that gets you immersed into it. It suffocates you in a mesmerizing elegy. You start approaching the seawater then you let it get up to your knees until it gradually takes you some meters below to some different light, strangled noises and awkward density. “Secrets” works like a pact in which you willfully accept to be drowsed into some mind-blowing vulnerability and uneasiness. Moreover, the odd thing is that there is beauty in all this. A rare balance: grasping for air and deep inhalation; a fragile equilibrium made out of liquidity and the solid evidence of living experience.

“Secrets” is a challenging album, a voyage to the center of individual fragilities, an intense narrative of the aches and pains of getting into and getting out love. "Secrets" is about the quest for the necessary awareness after peeling all those layers of blurred circumstances that keeps us far and away from the intimacy of the inner self when the human relationships leave behind a trail of bruised disillusionment that sometimes only by means of a deep plunge into the profundities of universal renewal.

I would not say that “Secrets” is a concept album, but i believe that the set of songs is far from being accidental; in fact, it seems pretty much the way it is purposely. It could easily be the soundtrack for a contemporary ballet such is the anthropological appeal of this particular album. There is a strong sense of movement and choreographic plasticity emanating from this group of songs that undoubtedly illustrate some sort of substantive corporeal intensity that guides this intimate map of redemptive songs. This album is pure witchcraft. 10/10.

TRACK BY TRACK

I cannot precisely say how many times I did listen to "Secrets", but make it probably about one hundred times. In addition, I am far from fed up. One of the most spectacular features of this album is that the more you listen to it the more you perceive its technical subtleties and charms, but the influences that either intentionally or unintentionally seem to be present in its making. Apart from some aspects that we could redirect to “The Shins” influence (though much more audible on History Speaks), or to Karen O and the “Yeah Yeah Yeahs”, it is the experimental presence of sonic structure deconstruction, so keen to Krautrock movement that are surprising.

NOTICE ME The opening track is a deliberate submersion into depths that embrace without any resistance and full of those troubled noisy silences of soon past relationships, which have entered a ghostly dimension of non-communication. The guitar work is incredibly imagistic and the song structure and all the instruments compromise in an elegant chaotic dialogue signaling this initial plunging therapy in such epic way. This is definitely a deconstructed pop song in Krautrock-esque fashion, reminding the riffology and the rhythmically dilettante beats of German band CAN. Fabulous song for exquisite eardrums.

WIDE AWAKE This song illustrates eloquently the plunging into the deep waters. The distorted psychedelic rock intro paves the way for a stead indie rock beat with some grounding drum pattern and hypnotic bass line with some top of the cake fuzzy guitars. Once again, both tonally and rhythmically, a very experimental noisy stunning song that guides you to meditation domains if you just focus on the viciously addictive beat.

CREATURES OF COMFORT Another great theme. Not surprising for this album will remain as a case study for the many years to come. Pure indie-rock again with vicious guitar work and excellent rhythm section collaboration with some additional dreamy keyboard and synths that gives to this song a brilliance and a textured density that makes of it one of the standout tracks of the album with a soaring chorus that makes putting it on unstoppable repeat mode.

SECRETS The song that gives name to the album is a piece of indie-rock anthology. The guitar work is a true delight for the eardrum going from a softer pop riffing to a more edgy and noisy sonic patterns with a superb bass and drum beat that emphatically remind of a fast train on tracks until it crashes into some imaginary unknown wall. The additional percussion details and the subtly of the synths all through this track along with the brilliant, at all levels, Jessica’s singing and background vocals. This song is like an ultimate underwater sword fight with those meaningful tormenting though liberating inner demons. It makes you want to suddenly cry such is its beauty. A definite masterpiece from intro through outro!

GREAT LIGHT Another uncompromising beautiful song signals the turning of the tide of the album. Underwater therapy structured around deliciously nostalgic synths. Then again, you have Jessica’s sweet soft singing. You can easily imagine yourself surrounded by a silent luminescent mass of water. It is a resistance song It is somehow the flip side coin of the closing album's song and announces the upward movement of resurfacing. That’s the kind of song that deeply touches you. There is an intense sad melancholy traversing it all.

SEE THESE EYES This song is another brilliant example of guitar playing full of delightful rhythmic and melodic details. Taking into account what was said about the album’s first set of songs and metaphorically considering that there is an ongoing emotional healing underwater therapy, this is the right song to open the second set of songs from “Secrets”. The opening guitar riff and synth swell that incidentally lasts the whole song serve to announce a thrilling track. Amazing percussion and drumming work of Peter Madsen, admirable the way he keeps the song on pace with his, I dare say, perfect notion of time with the efficient help of a gorgeous killer jazz funk bass pattern. Adorable match of tone and rhythm. This is the kind of song that the more one listens to it the more it unveils its musical structure.

ALWAYS WAITING This song appears on the album with an alternate version. In fact, this is the title song of Deep Sea Diver’s sophomore EP. A well crafted lo-fi ballad with some great bass playing plus ethereally gorgeous synth melodic details. An exquisite piece of beauty. Waltzing underwater. Delightful.

IT TAKES A MOMENT The distorted guitar open and the rhythmic percussion pattern make this song vicious and addictive. Then you add it with the spacious psychedelic keyboards, the background guitars and the sweet singing that sometimes reminds of a sort of Baptist church chant you simply have a killer song with that exquisite surplus of a string orchestra that transforms this song in some kind of an audacious aural experience.

BODY ON THE TRACKS This song is a masterpiece. There is no other way of addressing it. It is excruciatingly beautiful, intense; it feels like a set of razorblades tattooing your skin until it severely hurts, until you bleed out the demons that keep you astray. There is an odd eastern feel in the song structure that pushes it to epic longingness and nostalgia reinforced by a stunningly string orchestral soundscape. The frenzied hypnotic guitar playing by Jessica Dobson makes you feel the substantive anxiousness that underlies this whole album. Sublime drumming and keyboard parts and brilliant bass pattern once more. The song finale is of absolute sonic eloquence and opens the way to sheer perfection for the closing album's song.

NEW DAY The closing track of the album is like the coming out from the depths and leaving the emotional ocean of contemporary heartbreaking behind aiming for redemptive experiences. A truly beautiful piano, chamber pop ballad filled from beginning to end with that apparent fragility that the nostalgic tortured voice of Jessica Dobson that sings us so wonderfully about the therapeutics of starting again alone. A magnificent way of closing an unconditionally breathtaking album.

The Static Dial: Detroit Indie Fusion

Earlier this year, while checking my email inbox I did spot a message someone has sent to me back in late May 2015, yet to read. I am not the excuses and apologies, kind of person, but due to a quite considerable number of submission requests and to the literally huge load of music alerts from a variety of sources that keep coming, on a daily basis to my email, this particular message was not opened back then. It should not have happened so I finally did read it at last almost eight months after its electronic arrival.

This article is a much-delayed answer to that message. I feel thankful for the hazard that in a specific wintery January 2016, afternoon made me go through my inbox and thoroughly check out if any, of all received messages escaped my radar because otherwise I did not have come to know this band as easily as I use to with most of them. So, let us get to business.

Since 2011, The Static Dial had four fourth different lineups. Initially, it was Bill, Evan Starr and Faris Ansor. Travis Coakley and Josh Burd replaced both Evan and Faris. Afterwards, both Travis and Josh left the band with Mike Frizzell and John Shideler joining in. The Static Dial is actually an electrifying trio formed by Bill Gerazounis, the only founding member, on guitar/vocals and with songwriting responsibilities, plus drummer Mike Frizzell and bass player Mike Fredericks.

Just like many musicians, The Static Dial members are not full-time musicians, but quite the opposite since like many others, they face the insurmountable challenge of that fragile, but pragmatic/realistic equilibrium of daily life concreteness and art ethereal reality, which mean they have to work hard for the money in order to survive and make the music going afloat. The Static Dial hail originally from good old Detroit in the Michigan State, also worldly known by the epitome of Motor City and the heart of automobile production in the USA.



The city was also recently word of mouth in mid-2013 due to a formal file for bankruptcy after decades of mismanagement, which have left Detroit, plunged into a severe social crisis but the city is not just cars and economic disruption. Detroit has always been a hub for art, music, artists and creativity of all sorts with a prominent relationship towards the musical world, from Motown to Detroit Techno, from blues-rock tradition to the memorable relation Detroit maintains with the Jazz history.

The “D” as the city is sweetly called transpires music at every corner and I must say that The Static Dial stand as giants in the heart of the Midwest. In the beginning the band formed as a mere instrument if this is appropriate to say for displaying the solo material of the founder member guitarist/singer/composer and music educator, Bill Gerazounis.

This was mostly due to the desire of interaction with other musicians, in order to develop a sustainable and eclectic musical dialogue that would help shape an indie alternative sound, rather exquisite not to say unique, that we can relate to as being some sort of indie-fusion. In fact, one of the first things to grab my attention was precisely their concept of indie sound, which has to do much with the attitude and the open mind as well as with the blend of different roots.

Their indie-fusion concept it does not correspond to any indie sonority crystallization usually more grounded to some evolutionary post-punk trends or to alt-rock or even to garage rock from the 90’s. The Static Dial is too far away from a confined sonic orthodoxy. The Static Dial is just the opposite since one can easily acknowledge that they enjoy to explore and to experiment a wide range of styles without endangering their core of sound and the band’s identity.



When you listen to The Static Dial the best option is to keep an open mind because the label “Indie” can actually be luring. They are not easy to target in a musical genre for the simple reason that they stretch their musical horizon. They may sound indie-rock, classic rock, indie-pop rock or even some art-pop the problem is that they aren’t entirely anything of this but have a bit of them all plus more. The superb musicianship of the band allows them to masterfully blend and combine the different genres and styles without risking a tasteless musical “pot-pourri” some sort of “all genres in one” but just the very opposite.

The Static Dial has, so to say a musical backbone highly centered on Jazz and Classical aesthetics and techniques which make the combination of styles to which they call “indie-fusion” work really well whether they combine it with rock, reggae, Caribbean or even Afro sonorities. It sounds refreshingly good and makes The Static Dial a very consistent and coherent band quite different from the rest of the bunch. Their sound is not a bubble gum pastiche, quite the contrary, it reveals passion, articulation, effortless work to perfection because eventually that will pay.

The Static Dial is one of those bands that seem to constantly challenge some musical dialogues and in doing that they come with a pretty well known background sort of influence which is only natural, but are not as reflected on their sound as they probably think of and that’s quite obvious because when you read their interviews and press releases you tend to believe that the Static Dial are a kind of reincarnation of the famous 80’s British band The Police.

They are not and they could not be it no matter how much they believe they are influenced by them. Yes, I am not a particular fan of The Police as I am of The Static Dial anyway and apart from some rhythmic details and some jazz guitar riffs very much in the line of the notable guitar player/musician and composer that Andy Summers is but not much more than that.



After hearing again the whole The Police studio discography to clear, some doubts I have difficulty to acknowledge an effective and marked influence of them on The Static Dial. In fact, when one listens to their self-titled debut EP the feeling that arises is that it sets the path for the musical ground in which they want to move in and that is clearly a domain of dialogue between Caribbean and Afro rhythms, Rock, Latin Jazz and Fusion Jazz tempered with Flamenco.

Going back to their so-called Police-esque influence one can say that the British-American band was keen about mixing Jazz, new wave and Afro beat (Stewart Copeland) along with some inevitable punk. Robert Fripp (Andy Summers) influenced their work and to some extent, they tried a sort of reinvention of late 70’s Prog Rock with the introduction of jazz elements and Afro rhythmic structures. That is when they give their music a reggae accentuation.

Curved Air, Soft Machine and Van Der Graaf Generator are highly present in their music to be considered irrelevant. The adventurous mix that characterized the British-American trio is in no way comparable to The Static Dial. In fact, only the excellence of musicianship can be comparable not the aesthetic roots.

When one listens to The Static Dial what we sense from the very beginning is a strong jazz fusion vibe blended with Afro-American rhythms along with some guitar techniques that seem to pertain to Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin more than to Randy Rhodes, Prince, Jimmy Page or Andy Summers.



Audio Nomad their debut album is an awesome sample of what The Static Dial are aiming at doing. They have a solid music expertise which helps them to make the right options, but without making the music sound like an ontological exercise of mere music theory.

They are in fact very good musicians always focusing on the creative possibilities music, dialogues can open and on how to make them a rewarding aural experience. There is both a structural and textural richness in The Static Dial aesthetics as a direct result of the mix of influences and the way they are stitched in their music.

Song after song the listener is offered a feast of rhythms and harmonies that seduce the ear and call for attention to the details. Even though most of the listeners or The Static Dial fans are not properly musicians or have a musical education, the path the band has persisted in since the release of their debut EP up to their debut full-length not only demands that one is quite at ease with the evolution and the intersection of music styles but also aware of the top quality performance of Gerazounis, Frizzell and Frederiks.

What one has here with The Static Dial is a guitar that sounds clean and at the same time with a warm tone that captivates and it does not take one much time to understand that all makes sense: riffs, hooks, phrases and solos nothing seems to be in excess but precisely the opposite. Everything seems to be in the right proportion not that it makes the song structures predictable, not at all but makes them understandable.



The same goes for drumming with a fusion of jazz, rock and Latin rhythms that helps each song to have a proper identity and independence. All of it highlighted by the flirting with the bass guitar work which is of very good taste always looking for bass lines that sustain and enable the rhythmic dialogues that flow eloquently from the Static Dial’s music and namely on their debut full-length.

AUDIO NOMAD: SORT OF A SONG-BY-SONG GUIDE

Audio Nomad was written and arranged by Bill Gerazounis and released in the last day of March 2015. To say it briefly this album has an undeniable Jazz skeleton underneath, fleshed out with a range of different sonic modulations, and stylistic sensibilities that work out extremely well. Audio Nomad is a wide catalogue melodic guitar, textured chords, big tone eclectic drumming and inventive bass playing.

PAPER SHELLS is a good alt-rock song nurtured by some groovy psychedelia guitar solo that remind to some extent to Led Zeppelin and Frank Zappa. ICARUS FALLING is a true beautiful pop rock tune with additional jazz fusion dynamics, but also an Al Di Meola touch and a cool guitar solo.



SHAMELESS blends an Alt-rock vibe with an undeniable jazz groove tempered with some eastern feel. SUFFERER'S PRAYER sounds to a laid-back reggae rhythm blended with some eastern perfume. One of the most interesting aspects of this song lies in the superimposed guitar textures classical feel and technique with the background rock guitar with the rhythmic section. SCREAM OUT OF MY SKIN it is a delicious light indie pop rock song that deeply reminds the Bossa Nova (also known as Brazilian jazz) groovy feel and nostalgia stitched with a pleasing jazzy guitar solo and some good indie rock sonic blast that literally massages the ear. SILK ROADS is a tribute to Al Di Meola “Race with the Devil in a Spanish Highway” but also to the exquisite Flamenco guitar playing technique of Paco de Lucia. A brilliant song. An excellent example of musicianship from these folks from Detroit, which are always thriving to combine classical, jazz, ethnic with a modern inventive indie-rock language.

FRAYING ENDS remind a Tango rhythmic structure from beginning to end, something not strange for the band crossed with a reggae swing and a subtle pop rock touch mixed with flamenco guitar elements and technique identified in the song chorus. It reminds Al Di Meola’s “Midnight Tango” and some Sting. WOUND NURSING sounds to an Alt-rock track blended with eastern elements and enriched with a psychedelic guitar solo halfway Al Di Meola and Carlos Santana again with some Flamenco embellishments. THE LION AND THE LAMB this is a very good example of the fusional nature of The Static Dial’s music with clear influences of Afro and Afro Caribbean rhythms. A mix of Funana groove, Cape Verde national rhythm, with Calypso in indie pop disguises. Danceable and full of rhythm. Works unbelievably well. DUSTING OFF THE LEECHES has with a very interesting sonic structure easily jumping from some Pixie-esque blast intro to a gradual Ska swing with a strumming rhythm guitar pattern.

ALBUM RATING: 8/10

The Static Dial is actually in the studio recording their sophomore EP due release this year and we are really looking forward to check out their new six tracks. In the meantime, they are heading for a Summer USA Tour so if possible go give them some live support because they maybe playing at a venue near your neighborhood.