Silverbacks are the latest in the lineage of exciting new post-punk bands coming out of Dublin. But “Drool” is something slightly different than we’ve heard from them before, less hurtling breakneck energy and more depressive indie-rock reflection. The simultaneous slackness and precision of its mechanistic drumbeat and interlocking pinprick riffs is more Pinback than Parquet Courts, Kilian O’Kelly’s detached vocals painting a picture of a man just trying to get by in less than ideal circumstances. “Can’t you see/ It does exactly what it says on the box,” he sings, but Silverbacks continue to surprise and delight even as they look to the past for inspiration.
Silverbacks have, in some form or another, been a band for a while already. In some ways the project goes back almost two decades, to when Kilian and Daniel wrote songs together as kids. Though born to Irish parents, the brothers partially grew up in Brussels, attempting to write music that sounded like the Strokes. In college, the O’Kelly brothers met future members Emma Hanlon (bass/vocals) and Peadar Kearney (guitar), who would eventually lead them to Wickham. It wasn’t until that lineup was solidified that Silverbacks became more of a serious endeavor for all involved.
In the last two years, Silverbacks were more or less born in earnest, becoming what they are today — a band with late ’70s art-rock and punk and ’90s indie in its DNA, all of it tangled and then burst back open by their three-guitar arrangements. They began releasing new singles: “Just For A Better View,” “Dunkirk,” “Just In The Band.” Arriving across 2017 and 2018, each was infectious and sardonic and vivid in its own way — particularly “Dunkirk,” which took its name from the simple fact that Daniel had just gotten home from seeing the movie when Kilian played him the demo. The title subsequently inspired an imagined scene of a man in the near future having a midlife crisis in a beach resort built on a former warzone.
There’s a rawness and occasional ferocity throughout Fad, balanced with talk-sing observations and then deeply catchy choruses. Kilian, who was recently studying for a PhD in music composition, colours at the edges of the songs, guitar lines like liquid metal swirling around either the rough-hewn distortion or pop-minded songwriting. And it’s hard to think of many current guitar bands who make such vital use of three guitars. Everything in Silverbacks is economical — their guitar arrangements are still carefully interlaced, all those notes firing off each other just adding a new texture of melodic information to each track.
Big news! We’re very happy to announce that our debut LP ‘Fad’ will be released on July 17th on Central Tones. Watch the video for the lead-in single ‘Muted Gold’ You can learn a little more about ‘Fad’ and the songs on it.
Silverbacks – Drool /Sirens 7inch vinyl on Nice Swan Records
“Muted Gold” — the last addition to the album, and their latest single Silverbacks is released today — is indicative of sonic changes they want to explore. The O’Kellys want to open the songwriting process up more; Daniel wants Hanlon to sing more songs. (She already takes lead on two Fad tracks.) They’re all interested in complicating their established template — more dissonance, more percussion, indulging their “Talking Heads side.”
2020 has been a string of cancellations so far, but be sure to mark July 17th in your calendar since that’s the day Silverbacks release their debut album “Fad” via Central Tones. Daniel O’Kelly (vox, guitars), Kilian O’Kelly (guitars, vox), Emma Hanlon (bass, vox), Peader Kearney (guitar) and Gary Wickham (drums) use their time on the record to dissect the pop culture that consumes our every waking moment. Silverbacks has supported Irish rock darlings Girl Band on their sold-out U.K. tour, and seem destined to amass the same cult-like following. The Dublin five-piece brings together the goofiness of Pavement and the guitar frenzy of Car Seat Headrest at their best.
