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Syreregn

Fly With Us (Live 10 inch)

Written by: TL on 01/03/2011 23:05:42

For as long as I can remember being interested in the music scene, it's been clear as glass to me that what most fans, bands and industry people are always looking for is something 'new'. The majority of the bands that are succesful are the ones that experiment, re-invent themselves, and manage to surprise their listeners, if only a littel on each new record. But.. All of that is just the majority, and as is common, anti-movements do exist. Bands who swear to sounds that are retro. Fans that swear to vinyl as the premier music medium.

If any of those last things sound appealing to you, then this record is for you. Syreregn is a Danish trio who swear to 60's aesthetics, and play music in which it is hard to trace many bands more modern than The Doors, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. As much was displayed by their debut record "OCD", which the guys took out for a tour last year, in support of Nicolai Vilhelm Tell & the Teacompany. That tour was brought to an end with a show at the venue Stars in the Danish town of Vordingborg, and feeling that things were going well, Syreregn decided to record that show and make the recording available on ten inch vinyl.

Syreregn consists of singer/bassist Thor Boding, guitarist Jakob Møller and drummer Kim Bat, and their songs do indeed sound quite a bit like the bands they idolize, keeping to traditional structures while allowing room for each member to show off his skills occasionally. This means plenty of opportunities for you to hear some tasty licks from Møller's guitar, which occasionally betrays a liking for more modern bands like Wolfmother, as well as some rather intense drumming, courtesy of Bat's past as a metal drummer.

Meanwhile, Boding seems to keep his basswork simple, though this only gives it a fittingly hypnotic effect, while allowing him to focus on his vocals, which, given that this is a live-recording, one must tip ones hat for. The singing is rock solid and done with a good doze of attitude and attention to detail. In fact, there's not much trace of this being a live recording here, as the crowd is almost not heard at all, and the banter from the band's side is also rather minimal. There's a lengthy, rather over-the-top drum-solo between "Mirror Mirror" and "Time The Time" (the two tracks on the B-side of the record), but otherwise, the songs sound a lot like they did on "OCD".

And then again not really. Call me pretentious, but there might be something to all this hype for vinyl afterall. I can't quite say what it is, but sitting in a comfy chair, just looking at that black disc spinning on my girlfriend's record player, listening to what I knew was a band actually playing together... I might just have gotten a taste of that 'authenticity' that various genre elitist keep raving about, and it made me feel like this sort of recording just fits a band of exactly Syreregn's type, so infinitely much better than a downloaded mp3 player. It certainly made me take the band a bit more seriously, because it helps me see their niché, and that's really all I have to say other than; note to self: Get a vinyl player so you can listen to this again later.

Download: Mirror Mirror, Time The Time
For The Fans Of: The Doors, Cream, Jimi Hendrix
Listen: myspace.com/syreregn

Release Date 29.02.2011
Blue Beetle Records & Booking