Something Like Sound

When Tyler Despres from Dualistics first got in touch with our blog about a month ago, I was swamped. Already dealing with a backlog of reviews and interviews, I had to worry about final exams. I gave their EP a quick listen and couldn’t quite put my finger on what I liked about this group. It was not until we got to see Dualistics perform live at the Hi-Dive last weekend that the quality of this group really began to sink in (more on them in a bit).

First up was a local band, Hot Robot. They had a straightforward rock sound and fairly polished sound, with guitar solos and vocal work that reminded me of more recent Sugarcult. Following this group was Salt Lake City (soon to be L.A.) based Kid Theodore. K.T.’s set was incredibly energetic as they mixed pop-vocals with classic instrumentation. With an old-school electric piano and a nice bit of spring reverb, they continued the Saturday-night rock show, warming up the crowd with sounds that occasionally reminded me of surf rock records mixed with upbeat pop-indie. Overall, they put on a great set for an opening act.

Finally it was time for Dualistics. The Hi-Dive was cozy with friends and family as the group took the stage. As a group that has been busy working on new material, they started the set with a new tune (Despres even had the lyric sheet taped to his mic stand, it was apparently very new). Then they moved in to the main part of their set.

Perhaps it was the great sound mixing, or just the straight quality of the group, but as they started playing “Sleight of Hand,” I was instantly transported back to when I first listened to the recording they sent me a month earlier. However, this time it was different. These were the same songs I had heard before, but now they had another, more natural and intense aspect to them. The hollowness of the recording gone, I started having fun and rocking out. Moving from song to song, I could hear the early 90′s influence as they played through literally all of their songs (and a few new ones). By the time the set had finished there was no opportunity for an encore, one of the band members simply said, “That’s all we have, thank you.”

Look for our review of the Dualistics EP and our video interview with the group later this week.

Words by Tim Weilert, Photos by Bengsoon Chuah