GLASGOW instrumental-rock boffins Dialects celebrate the launch of their first EP, entitled LTKLTL, with a mammoth show at Nice’n’Sleazy tonight. Sharing the stage with fellow local math-rockers Verse Metrics and Luxembourgian band Mutiny on the Bounty, the band are set for one of their most thrilling shows yet.
Though relative newcomers to the Scottish alternative scene, the quartet have turned heads with their explosive live performances over the past year. The band’s extremely precise and mechanical style, featuring shifting time signatures and technical guitar licks, have caused critics to categorise them as math rock.
“We’re all geeks for this kind of music,” admits guitarist Conor Anderson. “We’re extremely privileged to have joined such a wide and welcoming community. The beauty of this kind of scene is that everyone knows each other and listens to each other’s music.”
Instrumental post-rock, and subsequently math rock, has emerged as a distinct scene over the past decade or so in this country. In Scotland, the genre was particularly attached to the legendary Mogwai who frequently derided the tag throughout their career.
As the style has evolved over the years, it seems that instrumental rock groups have become far more accepting of the different terms and what they imply.
“We’d describe ourselves as mathy post-rock,” says Anderson. “To be honest, the tag doesn’t really bother us and I don’t think that bands should be wary of it. We didn’t start a band expecting to be specifically placed in the same post-rock bracket, but it makes it easier for fans of the genre to access our music.”
There was certainly nothing forced about the band’s origins: Dialects first formed at what Anderson calls a “pretty awful Christmas party” a couple of years ago.
“That was the catalyst,” he recalls. “Myself and two other members of the band were totally bored, so we headed down to a practice space that had been set up downstairs. We started jamming a few ideas, some of which evolved into tracks that would ultimately make this forthcoming EP, and our bassist Ali joined soon after.”
Though undeniably influenced by their instrumental peers, such as Maybeshewill and And So I Watch You From Afar, the band have also developed a similar mastery over tension and dynamics that has allowed them to wear these comparisons with pride.
“The project is heavily influenced by pivotal albums in the genre,” says Anderson. “In terms of the sound, it naturally went in that more experimental direction. Our approach is very collaborative.”
Dialects are performing tonight after eight, but those outside of Glasgow can see them at Drouthy’s, Dundee, on Saturday or at Krafty Brew, Edinburgh, on Sunday.
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