Hey readers! How’s it going? Haven’t been on here in a bit. Sorry to leave you hanging. I’ve returned with the thought you might want more artists to discover. Also, shout out to all the commentators! I appreciate your comments a lot.
Now, down to business: Duologue.
They’re sound is close to Linkin Park, as they shift in between fizzes, pops, builds, melodic guitar picking, and some other mechanistic/mysterious sounds on their tracks. I like the fact that they experiment. Listening to Duologue is like witnessing a science project with a mad scientist and you’re the willing subject. Also, the lead singer, Tim Digby-Bell, sounds like Incubus’s Brandon Boyd, but his croons cross between Boyd, Snow Patrol’s Gary Lightbody, and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. (What can I say, I’m a sucker for those types of voices—they’re so muffled and yet so complimenting, they have the ability to sound drunken and sobering at the same time).
It’s controlled chaos when listening to this London-based band. I really enjoy writing to them as well: I can pen tense scenes that could be used for spies creeping around deserted corners or, if we’re talking movies, can be used to analyze Leonardo DiCaprio’s calculating, but conflicted character in Inception—the possibilities are endless.
Maybe it’s the echoes of the voices, or the lyrics that are on repeat and build and dance and create this whirlwind melody that makes you want to go running (Digby-Bell and bandmates). Maybe it’s the perfect violin that breathes into every song just as you breathe out (thank you violinist Seb Dilleyston). Maybe it’s the beats that resemble the song’s heartbeat (armed by beats programmer Toby Leeming). Or maybe it’s the piano chords that wash over the song (Digby-Bell). Bassist Ross Stone and guitarist Toby Lee own their riffs as well. No drummer? It works for them in the best of ways.
Ever since I found them on Noisetrade, I’ve had them on loop. Dark, dramatic tones exist within their songs, like Sinner and Push It, but no song is the same. The only thing that I am grateful to stay the same is Digby-Bell’s lip-curled tone. Give their songs a story in your head and see where it takes you.
If this band were a character, they’d be a conflicted one, trying to find the light in their inner darkness. When I listen, I root for this character and for them to find their way out of this crazy world that is created by the music. “How did I become so lost?” I don’t know, Tim, but I’m glad I’m lost along with you guys. Keep rockin’ out.
*Bonus Points: If it’s any consolation, check out they’re video for their song, Zeros. Why? Sleepy Hollow fans unite! Tom Mison makes a cameo! With short hair! Gotta love surprise cameos.
Sound: Absorbing, raw, alternative-pop, crooning, strum-heavy, on loop, emotional investment, conflicting characters, writing, hazy, electronica/dubstep/pop, dramatic
Top Songs: Cut And Run, Underworld, Gift Horse, Push It, Sinner (All of them!)
Experimental Songs to Go Along/More Crooners:
~AWOLNATION, “Sail”
~Atoms For Peace, “Amok”
~Radiohead, “Paranoid Android”, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”, “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”, “15 Step”
~Lovedrug, “Happy Apple Poison”