Skip to main content
[WRY WIT] Delighting in slightly
out-of-tune, jangled-up, country-infused rock, with a Portland vibe
riding roughshod over the entire endeavor, Eidolons has split 30 minutes
of music into two EPs, The Big Yellow Shirt and Hard Hang in a Deep Country.
The quartet opens the first of those discs with "Trashje" and the line
"Rock 'n' roll will never die/ But I will/ And you will," mumbled in an
uncaring drawl somewhere between Half Japanese and Jandek. The
smart-alecky discourse continues over the span of both discs, with
singer Dan Byers squeezing $10 words like "genuflecting" into his
lyrics. Maybe it should all come out as condescending, but Eidolons
tempers its occasionally difficult discourse with some easy-going
moments and humor. The ensemble is at its most effective when it delves
into slow-rolling simplicity: "Sweet Sister," from Hard Hang,
gushes effortless drums and nimbly picked guitar in large quantities.
It's followed by "Love Me Like a Capitalist," the Fugazi-cribbed
drumming properly assimilating Eidolons' varied influences and topping
it off with a wink. The song's title and chorus, memorable and clever in
equal parts, are just further illustration of Byers mining the
intelligentsia for inspiration but turning it into a droll joke. It's
one we can all get in on, too.
SEE IT: Eidolons plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi Ave., with Animal Eyes and Talkative, on Wednesday, July 30. 9 pm. $5. 21+.
WWeek 2015