Dryvetyme Onlyne

Ethan Durelle
Talks To The Dark
Esotype; 2008

I hate sounding like a broken record. I rail against clichés in literature, film, and music so often that my friends know exactly what to say in order to work me up into a nice froth. It’s kind of embarrassing to admit that I have a horrible tendency towards monotony, all while pursing my own personal quest against derivative art. I guess there really isn’t anything new under the sun, no matter how hard I might search for it.

So, when I start bemoaning the ills of the vague, yet seeming entirely too predictable, genre that is “post-rock,” it’s not that I don’t enjoy such music. It’s more that I’m tired of band after innumerable band making formulaic music that (if you take the descriptor that is post-rock at face value) is supposed to represent a new direction for guitar-led rock, but falls flat on its face with even in the midst of the biggest song’s largest lilting crescendo. These are bands that have are supposed to have sat at the feet of Sonic Youth, Fugazi, and other indie masters and learned how best to wrest away rock from the likes of Coldplay and My Chemical Romance. But instead, we get tired melodies and chord progressions that represent the cheapest of anthemic balladry, all for the chance to send the weakest of shivers up a listener’s spine. It’s no wonder that I seemingly care more about what Lil Wayne & Dizzee Rascal are creating than the schlock released by the newest trendy indie-pop band.

Thankfully, there are times when I have the opportunity to listen to bands like Ethan Durelle, groups that actually are invested in the music they are making. The beautiful thing is that it’s impossible ignore the fact that the band has dumped their heart and soul completely into their music. There’s a level of urgency on their sophomore album Talks To The Dark that is typically only heard in the most strident of punk and hardcore bands, but it’s wrapped up in a tantalizing, not-quite-easily-accessible rock package. Led by yelping tenor voice of Evan Lecker, these gentlemen attempt to mask their pop sensibilities deep inside soaring guitar lines and syncopated rhythms that keep the listener on his/her toes, but you can’t hide good pop songcraft forever.

Tracks like “Disruption…Sharks,” “Move Us On,” and “World Turns” are more than just good songs, in that they display the band’s penchant for aggressive dynamic shifts that are more about tweaking paradigms, not about music nerdiness. Easily, my favorite cut on the album is the meandering story-song that is “Two Sunrises,” a quirky parable that tells the tale of one man’s waking and awakening. While there might be some occasions (“Eat Something” and “Vertical People” come to mind) where the band misses the mark a bit with the direction of their music, it’s hard to ignore Ethan Durelle’s talent, passion, and overall drive to break beyond the bounds of what the major indie labels tell us “post-rock” is supposed to be.