two meters – two meters

– featured image courtesy of margo dellaquila – 

tyler costolo’s earliest offering as two meters was a force to be reckoned with.  when we premiered the florida songwriter’s debut track, “left behind,” at the end of april, costolo’s ability to transform profound grief into a cathartic was readily apparent, and he was able to subvert that catharsis – donning the millstone again – on the haunting follow-up, “captive audience.”

last friday, costolo released his self-titled debut extended play via the houston label very jazzed.  three additional tracks accompany the aforementioned singles, altogether providing a cohesive introductory statement for his whispered brand of bedroom pop confessionals.  “current sequel” is a weary interlude, paying homage to its title by repurposing the harsh, grating textures of “left behind” for its own mourning metaphor, while the distant arpeggios that populate “trapped inside” are perfect conduits for costolo’s spare exploration of loneliness and isolation.

closing out the project is the slightly macabre yet endearing “web,” its idiosyncrasies bottled up in the angular piano motifs perched atop the texture.  additional production from label mates get a life and pastel feature throughout two meters, and the latter lends their vocals to the finale, wordless echoes that accentuate the project’s haunting thesis.  at just under fifteen minutes, two meters is a compelling debut best – and easily – consumed in one sitting.  listen to the extended play, streaming in full below.

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two meters – “captive audience”

– featured image courtesy of margo dellaquila –

tyler costolo’s output as two meters has been spare but incredibly affecting thus far.  his debut single, “left behind,” shrouds traumatic loss in a colossal soundscape built on an unassuming foundation of acoustic guitar and vocals, a glimpse of his forthcoming self-titled extended play.

the magnitude of the aforementioned project has been further clarified by “captive audience,” which doubles down on the affectations provided by hushed guitar and vocals while exploring the ramifications of a physical altercation.  costolo’s labelmate pastel again makes an appearance, this time singing whispered harmonies as the track soaks in its implications.  with its distant, dissonant piano undercurrents coursing through the texture, “captive audience” retains a haunting aura complementary to the catharsis of its predecessor.

two meters is due out june 15th via very jazzed.  take a listen to “captive audience” below.

premiere – two meters

– featured image courtesy of margo dellaquila – 

tyler costolo ventured into the realm of home recording at the top of 2017, armed with a guitar, a voice, and a bevy of deeply personal, confessional lyrics.  as two meters, the boca raton native has honed sentiments of loss and sorrow into a precise vessel, one that takes the shape of a five-track extended play due later this year.

making a lasting impression is “left behind,” the stunning debut offering from two meters and his extended play’s opening number.  faint strumming and a muffled voice are the pillars of a prelude filled to the brim with accounts of overwhelming personal loss, costolo intimately recounting the death of his mother and the immediate aftermath.  “left behind” eventually swells into a titanic arrangement supplemented by production from label-mates pastel and get a life, a fuzzed-out cacophony that mirrors the indirect catharsis this song provides.

the self-titled two meters extended play is out june 15th via very jazzed.  listen to “left behind,” premiering right here on the dimestore, below.

premiere – pastel

– featured image courtesy of the artist – 

last summer saw the release of pastel’s absent, just dust, a powerful five-track extended play that allowed gabriel brenner to explore the concept of native erasure from both a familial and a personal perspective.  at times heart-wrenching, at times introspective, and at times both, absent, just dust was a stark sonic departure from its predecessor, 2015’s comparatively soulful, pop-centric bone-weary.

to mark the holiday and to announce his showcase performance at sxsw next month, brenner is embarking on another about-face with “close,” a majestic one-off single.  cloaked in crystalline rolled piano chords that taper off with a chilly echo, “close” is a downright euphoric exploration of new romance, one that turns on the earnest vulnerability of brenner’s central query: “do you think about my body?”

“close” really blossoms into its refrain, the symphonic arrangement a byproduct of brenner’s catharsis.  juxtaposed with sparse, heartfelt verses powered by brenner’s commanding lead vocal, “close” is pastel in top form, a loud reminder of brenner’s prowess as a pop architect.  we’re thrilled to premiere the track today.

pastel will be performing during sxsw at the very jazzed/simpatico showcase on march 15th and will open for gus dapperton in houston on march 18th.  “close” is streaming below; experience it.

interview – pastel

– featured image courtesy of the artist –

Last month, gabriel brenner released the latest extended play under his pastel moniker.  the los angeles-based artist uses the five songs that span absent, just dust to examine a concept of native erasure that is both familial and personal, a desire that stemmed from myriad recent events.

those familiar with pastel’s earlier work might anticipate another offering of celestial r&b; instead, the intimacy and vulnerability of this project’s subject matter necessitated a shift into a more ambient, experimental realm.  brenner’s commanding lead vocal still haunts tracks, like the standout cut “silhouette,” but absent, just dust is often shrouded in ominous pulses and static found sounds, a malleable canvas onto which brenner can interpret a bevy of emotions.

we were fortunate to catch up with brenner recently via e-mail and discuss all things absent, just dust: from compositional approach to an integration of visual art to brenner’s preference for shorter bodies of work.  a lightly-edited transcript, along with a full stream of the extended play, is presented below.

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this new ep is a pretty explicit exploration of erasure.  what was the catalyst to delve into this personal topic?

i recently graduated from the art program at ucla, and i spent much of my last year there making video works largely surrounding my relationship with my native heritage.  these were ideas that i had spent a few years trying to work out (i tried sculpture, poetry, etc), and it just seemed to click with video.

this also happened to be around the same time that the nodapl resistance started gaining national attention.  there was a livestream video that a journalist had set up on facebook one night, showing militarized police cornering water protectors on a bridge, throwing tear gas at them, and spraying them with a water cannon in subzero temperatures.  i felt such a multitude of emotions, but i couldn’t quite put them into words.  or, rather, words just didn’t suffice.

in trying to understand my heritage, i’ve continually arrived at a similar loss.  i’m pima on my mother’s side and cherokee on my father’s.  neither side of my family knows much, if anything, about our people and culture, and it’s largely because of a long history of atrocities like this.  at base, so much of art is about making new language, and when the language wasn’t there for me, it made sense to process this through art, and later, music.

absent, just dust is also a bit of a sonic departure for you.  did the thematic material you explore necessitate the shift, or did the shift lead you to explore this thematic material?

it was a bit of both.  i had made the foundation for “haunt” and “silhouette” two years prior to the release, and sat on the music for so long because it was such a sonic departure for me.  it didn’t make sense with the rest of the music i had released prior and i didn’t know what to do with it.  when i started making the videos, the music suddenly made sense when placed within a similar conceptual framework.  from there, i started making the rest of the ep, and it continued to follow in the same sonic footsteps.

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i think your project could be described as audio/visual, what with the photo book that accompanied bone-weary and the general thought and care that goes into the design of your cassettes.  how do you approach integrating photography and fine art with your music to create a cohesive whole?

i think because i come from a contemporary art background, i tend to think of music projects as visual art projects, too.  i think of the cassettes as art objects, and thus think it’s equally important that the visuals communicate nuanced, poetic ideas like the music.  i want listeners to know what i’m talking about in my music, and they can’t know deeply if the visuals are communicating something different than the music.

many, if not all, of your releases have been either standalone singles or extended plays.  do you find yourself gravitating towards a shorter format for any particular reason?

i’ve always been enamored by artists that can say a lot with very little.  it’s the difference between félix gonzález-torres and someone like matthew barney.  félix can communicate more to me with just a few light bulbs than barney can in five grandiose feature-length films because félix allows me ample space to sit with the particulars.

i think i always work towards a-lot-with-a-little because it’s so effective.  i’m also aware that my music asks for quite a bit of patience from the listener because it doesn’t reveal itself all too quickly.  i contemplated turning absent, just dust into a full length, but i couldn’t imagine asking a listener to sit even longer with a work that already felt a bit like an endurance piece at just five tracks.

to that end, do you anticipate releasing a full-length in the near future?

i guess it depends; if the work calls for a full-length, then it will be a full-length!  but i do think it’s long overdue, so we’ll see.

this ep is very heavy thematically and that weight manifests itself frequently in the arrangements, but i get an occasional sense of serenity, at least musically.  did making absent, just dust feel cathartic at any point?

“stammer” definitely felt cathartic to make.  i basically just hit record and started singing, and then worked with what i had.  the track is largely about the struggle to communicate without the right words, and letting my voice unfold to fill in the gaps was pretty freeing.

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half of all proceeds made from absent, just dust will be donated to freshet collective, an organization providing legal services to the water protectors at standing rock.  a handful of cassettes are still available for purchase through pastel’s bandcamp, where digital versions of his entire catalogue can also be procured.

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pastel – “stammer”

– featured image courtesy of the artist –

gabriel brenner will release his newest extended play, absent, just dust, as pastel next friday.  the collection of songs is a stylistic and thematic departure from last year’s bone-weary, as brenner explicitly examines how the erasure of native experiences intertwines with his own identity.

on “silhouette,” brenner wove a cryptic but identifiable vocal through the fibers of the track; album closer “stammer” augments the gravity of its predecessor by stripping any semblance of identity from its vocal treatment.  haunting melismas emerge from a molasses-thick texture, wordless in their delivery but increasingly powerful as their numbers multiply, allegorical to the disappearance of native perspectives from history and a personal emptiness that accompanies it.

“stammer” is ambient, meditative at first glance; taken in full context, it quickly transforms into the most evocative piece of work brenner has turned in to date.  listen below.

pastel – “silhouette”

– featured image courtesy of the artist –

after exploring the realms of towering, majestic r&b on last year’s bone weary, gabriel brenner is set to take a more explicitly introspective angle on his upcoming extended play.  throughout absent, just dust, brenner explores his native identity, how familial traumas intertwine with a larger tendency to erase native experiences from the historical narrative.

that concept of erasure seeps into the fibers of “silhouette,” brenner’s latest offering under his pastel moniker.  even after an initial murky sample dissipates, brenner’s lead vocal is still submissive to the surrounding textures, echoing in a haze amidst the swelling synths, distant percussion, and controlled feedback that populate the track.

“silhouette” proves aching in more ways than one; a repeated thesis gives way to a fragmented narrative, its lack of resolution a heartbreaking nod to brenner’s overall examination of loss.  it’s the type of track with a gravity that lingers, especially after repeated listens in solitude.

absent, just dust arrives august 25th.  hear “silhouette,” the extended play’s centerpiece, below.