decibully

city of festivals

‘William Seidel and Ryan Weber were two late acquisitions to The Promise Ring shortly before the Ring’s season came to an end. Together, they provided backing vocals, percussion, keys and bass for that pop-punk collaboration.

As co-conspirators, they earned a modest reputation for their true effort, Decibully, but don’t expect them to live in TPR’s shadow for long. As a matter of fact, don’t expect them to sound anything like The Promise Ring.

Siedel and Weber are just two of the many driving forces behind Decibully. Originally formed to be a three-piece, the band has expanded to include seven members. Being a septet has freed the band up to explore new dimensions to their sound and focus more on their instrumentalism than just churning out songs. Their priorities are straight: music first, vocals second.

“City of Festivals” is a meticulous freshman release on Polyvinyl Records. It leaves no style untried. The songs’ mass lies in crisp, clean musical lines, driven primarily by keyboards and secondarily by guitar. Seidel’s vocal parts formulate the density of the songs. The lax and jazzy tones of his voice make their marks in melodies that range from Jeff Buckley to Sade to Wham!-era George Michael to Dido. His vocal possibilities are endless.

This record manages to walk the mellow music line while rarely tilting to the boring side. The tunes are fresh and difficult to categorize. It is “indie unprecedented.” While coming to the too-close-to-Oberst Bright Eyes comparison once or twice, mainly because of the band’s similar-sounding choir use as a song introduction, there is little to no leeway to make lazy comparisons.

Aside from the sonically defining keyboards and Seidel’s voice, the most enticing qualities of “City of Festivals” are the banjo and lap-steel parts. They add texture to the songs and give them a broader dimension.

If you’re ready to try something new that isn’t so weird it takes months to grow on you, Decibully is the band to which you should listen. They’re easy-listening indie rock.