Dualistics’ emotive but sophisticated style makes them the perfect candidates for Denver’s next breakout act. Photos by.
With all the vibrant styles, abundant venues and the phenomenal number of bands playing live on any given night, Denver’s local scene is one to be reckoned with. It often feels too big to absorb, and those bands that reach the level of popularity to make a national splash often favor the alt-country/gothic “Denver Sound” (not that there’s anything at all wrong with that), or alternately fit into a generic, TV-series theme song sort of pop.
In that way, itap great to hear a band like starting to gain some momentum, since sonically they fall into neither camp — at least not comfortably. Last Saturday night at the , the band had no trouble attracting an impressive crowd to their CD release party, where everyone present seemed to share in the band’s natural, infectious enthusiasm.
Dualistics’ style pulls in the dark, heavy grunge influence from ‘90s bands like Tool, Smashing Pumpkins, System of a Down and Hum, mixes it with the crisp, poppy side of Nirvana and Pixies, and sprinkles in some instrumental complexity from bands like Rush. The band calls itself “progressive pop” and the sound fits in better with the style of the current emo crowd, even while it comes across as more intelligent than most other bands in the Denver scene.
While they share some slight stylistic tendencies with Born in the Flood, they’ve done a solid job in carving out their own, noisier and complex niche. Their new eponymous CD, which is musically a sidestep from their two previous efforts, “Mirror EP” and “Long Tail EP,” showcases their sound well, but their live performance really shows them off — which is as it should be.
Saturday night was no exception. The band, featuring Jimmy Stofer on bass and vocals, Scott Russell on drums, Charley Hine and Tyler Despres both on guitar and vocals, tore through a nine-song, 50-minute set in front of a nearly packed house, playing the songs from the new release and adding more from their previous two. Starting out with “Slight of Hand,” the new CD’s opener and an obvious intro piece, they quickly reached a heavy, noisy psychedelia and never came back down.
They hit their stride with a huge, powerful performance of “Unique (Like Everyone Else),” as Despres and Hine sawed fast and furiously through guitar strings. Along with Stofer, they jerked and jumped around the stage, only to make it back to the mic breathlessly, just in time to sputter out the song’s emo-styled rant to its anthemic backbeat. No matter that Despres missed the key a bit here and there with his “Too-too-too…” backing vocals — the passion was that much more evident because of it.
If the meteoric rise of bands like the Fray, with its easily accessible emotive pop style, is any indication, Dualistics stand a chance of achieving a significant national popularity with their new CD. They offer up a sound that fits a slight gap between the current emo scene, which many seem destined to grow out of soon, and a more mature pop-rock genre somewhere close to Dave Matthews — but are a comfortable fit in neither. Their live show, pretty much the CD with oodles of added passion and power, could push them just into the right light to make that happen.
Mike Marchant, frontman of Denver’s , played a solo set before Dualistics took the stage, featuring his signature psychedelic/gothic sound. Singing in vocals that alternated between a low, near hum at times and a pained, honest howl, and joined by vibraphone and soft percussion and backing vocals, Marchant performed a suite of tunes steeped in Syd Barrett-style intimate reflection.
By way of description, the sound is a perfect fit for Young God Records, the label started by ‘80s noise pioneer Michael Gira (former frontman for Swans). The label carries a cadre of experimental performers and groups including Angels of Light (Gira’s own band) and Calla, and used to boast Devendra Banhart. They seem a perfect place to showcase Marchantap flavor of psychedelia as well as his soft-spoken personality, and Saturday nightap growing Dualistics crowd received him well.
Billy Thieme is a Denver-based writer, an old-school punk and a huge follower of Denver’s vibrant local music scene. Follow Billy’s giglist at
Doug Beam is a self-taught photographer and occasional writer who stumbled into the Denver music scene once upon a time and hasn’t been able to stop photographing bands since. You can see much of his music photography on , or peek further into his weird world on .
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