photo by by Rina Khadivi
The spiralling indie rock soul of "David's Eyes" by New York’s Imaginary People, from their third full length "Alibi", feels like a midnight run, a hybridic blend of indie rock, East Coast art punk and 80's new wave soul. Cast against a truly snappy drum beat there are mysterious musical leans, feeling of secret soul clubs, pearly glistening moments and dour moments too. I love frontman Dylan Von Wagner's voice, always have when I have written about IP in the past. Dylan's vocal countenance while difficult to describe is utterly unique, instantly recognizable and there is a raw immediacy and emotional connection to the tremble in his voice and the feeling that he is reflecting on the words that he sings as they tumble from his lips. Again, hard to describe but I think of singers like Paul Banks (Interpol), Roland Gift (Fine Young Cannibals), Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music) during their halcyon days (or maybe an amalgam of all of them). I guess I am trying to say that besides having a magnetic style, Dylan's comely howl feels existentially drawn (is that weird to say?).
As such, the band – completed by Mark Roth (guitar), Justin Repasky (keys), Kolby Wade (drums), Bryan Percivall (bass/synth), and with additional synth work by Grant Zubritsky – have not just perfectly captured the times in which this record was written, but have managed to turn the nightmare of the modern world into something truly exquisite, pitting emotional vulnerability against an almost resigned stoicism . Just listen to the way that Von Wagner’s voice trembles on opener “It’s Simple” – the tenderly mournful opener written minutes after the singer watched the gun massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School unfold on live television – or the tentative fragility and dark romanticism of “Bronx Girl”, which manages to still be hopeful in a world without hope. Elsewhere, the jittery “Neon Age” rails against a world in which people feel the need to present a different vision of their lives to people in order to impress them.
“It’s a giant shit on Instagram,” Von Wagner says matter-of-factly. “I have no problem with people using it, but everybody’s just making up their life to be their own little movie, and I think it’s making a lot of people mentally ill.”]
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Any music worth its salt will reflect the times it’s made in. It’ll absorb the atmosphere of everything around it, hold up a mirror to what’s happening in the lives of the people who made it and also the wider world outside. That’s exactly what Alibi, the third full-length from New York’s Imaginary People, does. It is, as frontman Dylan Von Wagner, explains, a response to the cultural civil war that he sees unfolding all across the USA.
We live during harsh times as sly politicians and the corporations who control them play us like chess pieces, happily allowing us to burn after being gaslit. Liner notes indicate that "Alibi" is an album that is a [response to the cultural civil war that he sees unfolding all across the USA.] and that fact make me want to hear it. Now is not a time to soak in music that is merely doing backflips.
Dylan Von Wagner shares:
“I just think we’re in an ultimate fight right now. Our culture is just falling apart and the ins and outs of our cultural differences are splitting – it feels like what one person says is right and what the other person says is wrong and that’s it. The whole time we were doing the record, it just felt like normalcy was falling apart. The things you’d think would normally be right and wrong – the normal yesses and nos – aren’t happening anymore, and that was very disturbing to me.”
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed) on "Alibi"
[That cultural dystopia bristles through Alibi’s 11 songs. Recorded by Phil Weinrobe (Nick Murphy, Pussy Riot, Stolen Jars) at Rivington 66 in the band’s home of New York City, as well as upstate at Spillway Sound in the Catskills, and mixed by Eli Crews at Figure 8 in Brooklyn, this is an album that shimmers with a twisted beauty, which feeds off all of that disturbing stuff and turns it into something both harrowing and beautiful.
As such, the band – completed by Mark Roth (guitar), Justin Repasky (keys), Kolby Wade (drums), Bryan Percivall (bass/synth), and with additional synth work by Grant Zubritsky – have not just perfectly captured the times in which this record was written, but have managed to turn the nightmare of the modern world into something truly exquisite, pitting emotional vulnerability against an almost resigned stoicism . Just listen to the way that Von Wagner’s voice trembles on opener “It’s Simple” – the tenderly mournful opener written minutes after the singer watched the gun massacre at Stoneman Douglas High School unfold on live television – or the tentative fragility and dark romanticism of “Bronx Girl”, which manages to still be hopeful in a world without hope. Elsewhere, the jittery “Neon Age” rails against a world in which people feel the need to present a different vision of their lives to people in order to impress them.
“It’s a giant shit on Instagram,” Von Wagner says matter-of-factly. “I have no problem with people using it, but everybody’s just making up their life to be their own little movie, and I think it’s making a lot of people mentally ill.”]
Great song, great band that carves out their own distinct sound and world view.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXUt01DOtMPjpnN5NG8jlNA
https://www.instagram.com/imaginarypeoplenyc/#
https://www.facebook.com/imaginarypeoplenyc
https://www.imaginarypeoplenyc.com/
Any music worth its salt will reflect the times it’s made in. It’ll absorb the atmosphere of everything around it, hold up a mirror to what’s happening in the lives of the people who made it and also the wider world outside. That’s exactly what Alibi, the third full-length from New York’s Imaginary People, does. It is, as frontman Dylan Von Wagner, explains, a response to the cultural civil war that he sees unfolding all across the USA.
“I just think we’re in an ultimate fight right now,” explains the singer. “Our culture is just falling apart and the ins and outs of our cultural differences are splitting – it feels like what one person says is right and what the other person says is wrong and that’s it. The whole time we were doing the record, it just felt like normalcy was falling apart. The things you’d think would normally be right and wrong – the normal yesses and nos – aren’t happening anymore, and that was very disturbing to me.”
Imaginary People, indie rock, alt rock, soulful rock, synthpop, new wave-esque, frontman Dylan Von Wagner, third album "Alibi", single "David's Eyes", 90's post punk, East Coast art punk,
Imaginary People, indie rock, alt rock, soulful rock, synthpop, new wave-esque, frontman Dylan Von Wagner, third album "Alibi", single "David's Eyes", 90's post punk, East Coast art punk,
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