She, Sir prefer to be dreamy -- Obscure Sound

Few artists have the certain skill and tendancy to create hypnotic layers of sound that captivate the listener and bring them to a different place. In the mainstream, the genre of shoegaze is often thought of as a bunch of guitars with mindless distortion layered with vocals containing an excess of reverb. I’ve even heard several people foolishly say that shoegaze is the easiest genre to create. These people do not understand the talent that goes into the musical aspect of creating atmosphere within sound, such as the mind-bending drones that legendary artists such as My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive have produced. While the genre was most popular during the early 90s, there are still bands giving it a go. She, Sir seems to be the newest of them, with a sound rich in influences from the previously mentioned My Bloody Valentine and Slowdive. The duo is comprised of M. Grusha and Russell Karloff, both of whom are academically trained musicians. They both met in a music composition class at Iowa State University in 2000 and have been making music together since under the name of She, Sir. They have a clear vision for the dreamy and engaging sound, which seems to work out well in most cases.

After their move to Austin, Texas, the duo began to record and distribute their songs to the public. This September, they will finally release Who Can’t Say Yes, which is their debut EP after following the strengths of their demo recordings. I find Who Can’t Say Yes to be consistent with each song, along with incredible ingenuity and a fitting flow. She, Sir’s music seems to be oddly engaging, which should be a surprise from songs with such rapid fire as ‘Lieutenant’ or ‘The Clandestine’. The opener to the EP, ‘I Love You, Blowtorch Eyes’, is as recognizable as the band gets, as the vocals and chord structures are remindable of the more accessible Dinosaur Jr. or even The Verve. The songs following tend to be less catchy but more epic in proportion, resulting in several songs being tremendous growers. The EP still contains a diverseness that should express great attention and detail to the music at hand. She, Sir have one of the most modernly unique sounds I have heard lately and if they can continue to pull it off, they will have a bright future.

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She, Sir – I Love You, Blowtorch Eyes

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/she-ilo.mp3]

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She, Sir – Lieutenant

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/she-lie.mp3]

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She, Sir – You Can’t Change a Thing

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/she-you.mp3]

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She, Sir – The Clandestine

[audio:https://obscuresound.com/mp3/she-cla.mp3]