THE by Perhapsy
THE is the newly-released EP from Perhapsy (Oakland-based songwriter and guitarist for Bells Atlas and Curls).
THE is released courtesy of Wave Dweller and Copper Mouth Records.
Although he's lived in California for several years, Perhapsy's Derek Barber is a midwesterner at heart. Beneath the layered, post-rock guitar textures and driving drum beats on The, Perhapsy's latest EP, lays a sweetness and sincerity that belies Barber's Mansfield, Ohio origins. The music on this EP is nostalgic, not in the regressive, unimaginative sense of cultural nostalgia — plundering the stylistic tendencies of the past — but in the more personal sense: a genuine, aching looking back into one’s own past experiences and emotions. This nostalgia, derived from the lyrics and Barber's soft vocals, lays under a bed of shimmering guitars.
Aside from his work as the frontman for Perhapsy, Barber is rightfully acclaimed for his guitar playing with Madeline Kenney, Bells Atlas, and Astronauts, etc. As such, the guitars on The are the EP's most distinctive feature. They chime on the spirited “Baptism '89”; rise and fall over a pulsing bed of bass and drum machine claps on the lush, foggy “Forward/Back”; pierce through the haze of “Where Is Your Home?”; ring on “O, Su Yung”, a driving, post-punk ghost story; and swell and roar on the cover of Grouper's “Heavy Water (I'd Rather Be Sleeping)”. The lyrics on the chorus of this last tune sum up the overall affect of the EP: “Oh dreams I'm moving through heavy water / The love is enormous / It's lifting me up / I'd rather be sleeping / I'd rather fall into tidal waves / Right where the deepest currents flow.” In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud writes of the “oceanic feeling”: a primitive sensation of oneness with the universe. With its midwestern sweetness and its varied, fuzzy guitar textures, The evokes this same feeling.
- Chris Alarie
Tracklist
| 1. | Baptism '89 | 4:56 |
| 2. | Forward/Back | 4:37 |
| 3. | O, Su Yung | 3:58 |
| 4. | Heavy Water (I'd Rather Be Sleeping) | 2:49 |
| 5. | Where Is Your Home? | 4:00 |
Videos
Credits
All songs by Derek Barber except "Heavy Water (I'd Rather Be Sleeping)" originally by Grouper.
© 2017 PERHAPSYMUSIC
Album Art by Derek Barber
Layout and Design by Madeline Kenney
Produced/Mixed by Derek Barber
Produced/Mixed/Mastered by Carlos Arredondo
Derek Barber - Vox, Guitars, Bass, Keys, Samples, Claps
Aaron Gold - Drums
