"Sometimes bleak, other times energetic, but always addicting, the vocals never get dull in the five tracks that are available on Night Life."
- Indierockreviews.com
"It's pop music, no doubt, but in the good way. It's moody and drifts ethereally over the calm dark or declares it present with a staccato splash like a foot stomping in a puddle."
It’s not easy to talk about a record like Night Life. From the explosion of sound that kicks off the EP to the eerie, reverb-laden dreamscape of “Seen a Ghost,” themes of love and loss tie the songs together. But as with everything they do, Dave Buker and Tyler Theofilos are never content with simple solutions. The disturbing and immediate opening lines of “Benchmarking” (“‘I’m ready to die, / and I’ve already tried’”) are set alongside a startling, gorgeous string quartet arranged by Buker. In “Intuition,” sweet and simple pop structures are counterbalanced by troubled, off-putting lyrics. This is the kind of mode the Depths operate in. Part way between kitsch and catharsis, Night Life finds genuine expression in the unlikeliest of places.
Rather than entering the long, dark tunnel of the genre act, the two have always had a simple approach: make music you like. It may seem like a painfully obvious platform, but it’s not something a lot of bands are interested in doing these days. In the typical indie jungle of post-everything, finding your own niche can be a difficult process. But instead of resorting to gimmicks, the Depths fell back on the only thing that mattered—songwriting.
That’s not entirely true. They also fell back on the only people that mattered—their friends. On Night Life, a slew of musicians were tapped to fill out the full band, including Dave’s brother Jared Buker on drums, Eric Tharp on bass, and a string quintet featuring Jenna Barvitski, Natalie Sayhoun, Mariana Szalaj, Jamie Carney, and Mike Gismondi.
When the Depths break into the final, violent coda of “Sign of the Times,” it’s evident that they mean business. A group with this kind of ferocity and earnestness is pretty rare in today’s blog-defined, car-commercial-ready musical landscape. So what’s next for Tyler and Dave?
They’re going to take over the world.
-Steve Jackson
Become a fan of The Depths on Facebook and Purevolume
Thanks for the ADD. Let me know when you have gigs so that I can put them on our sites concert calendar. We are always looking for music for our weekly podcast.
i couldn't get the download to work. can you email me at barrymoore AT indierockreviews DOT com and send me an mp3? I'll see if a song review is appropriate.
hey thanks for the add. i just started writing for indierockreviews. com so feel free to keep me informed as to what you're doing or if you have any music you want to send me or anything. cool? thanks!
hey thanks for the add. i just started writing for indierockreviews. com so feel free to keep me informed as to what you're doing or if you have any music you want to send me or anything. cool? thanks!
