Hailing from Austin, Texas, supergroup The Dialtones comprises members featured in Okkervil River, White Denim, The Polyphonic Spree, The Heartless Bastards, and Golden Dawn Arkestra. Founded in 2005, the band centers itself around guitarist Lauren Guersilo, bassist Mike St. Clair, drummer Chris Hausler, synthesizer specialist Wiley Green, and vocalist Sahara Smith.
The process by which their upcoming Static Sky EP (due out April 11) was created starts back in 2021 when Gurgiolo — who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder — experienced a psychotic manic episode that lasted for over a year. This period of time was marked by auditory and visual hallucinations, the emergence of multiple personalities, and delusional thoughts. Her enthusiasm for sci-fi themes led her to color this time with aspects of her favorite futuristic stories, creating a narrative of aliens, alternate realities, and self-aware computers. After she had gotten past this extended debilitation, she set to work documenting it in song and gathering together the people with whom she wanted to share her ordeal.
“I can’t help but write about it,” Gurgiolo admits, “the experience is so mind-boggling and traumatic that I need the music to help process the experience.” She continues: “I want to support people who have similar struggles because it’s hard to understand unless you’ve been through it.“
Their new single, “Naming No Names”, accurately captures the feeling of undiluted kinetic energy that Gurgiolo must have felt. It’s a noisy and consuming bit of aural alchemy. Guitars splatter against the walls of the studio while tumbling stretches of percussion bound around the other instruments. The occasional burst of squelching electronics helps to create and sustain a surreal landscape of wild sonic expression.
“‘Naming No Names’ delves into the experience of mania,” explains Gurgiolo. “It’s a feeling of all or nothing, going full throttle and speeding towards ends that don’t justify the means. The grandiosity and ineffability of one’s thoughts in this state remind me of concepts that have fueled wars. As the song progresses, it transitions from the mischievous energy of mania to the darker consequences of such self-justifying enthusiasm in the world. Manifest Destiny, Social Darwinism, Ethnocentrism- the world is saturated with the effects of this blind energy. The chorus “stamped no returns, naming no names” conveys how this tidal wave of energy is unleashed.“
Listen below.
“Naming No Names” is out now on Mad Monk Records. Follow the band on Facebook and Instagram.
