Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce great
things are happening in the Northwest territory. Oregon's prolific, yet elusive singer/songwriter/composer Sylous Gunther returns from obscurity with My Darling Boy.
A character of Gatsbian fashion, Sylous spent recent years collaborating with various musicians and teaching music full time, all the while longing to heed his call of pop iconography. Portlanders might remember his stint in a Suede cover band, under the affectionate moniker of Swayed, in the early millennium. My Darling Boy was the title of a solo outing consisting of Sylous and his darling guitar. Yet, strange fates of Craigslist ad connections led to meeting Guitarist Chris Moncrieffe and bassist Peter Saturday. The trio attended a Trashcan Sinatras show, which somehow led to the decision to form a band.
Sylous on the formation of My Darling Boy:
“Basically the band members united after many years of trying to get together, years of searching even. The night of a Trashcan Sinatras
show we decided to write music together. There is a
reason we use the verb 'play' in regards to music. It should be play.
It should be fun. Those processes can be haunting, emotional and
truthful. Which could cause nosebleeds due to the content, but
ultimately fun is what we are finally having playing these songs.”
Lauded as a genius by the Portland presses, possessing a couple of
college degrees and multiple talents; Sylous exhibited an attitude of
grandeur and gratitude to be working with fellow talented band
members.
“I have been an elusive singer/songwriter in Portland since 1999, but
have not pursued anything seriously as I am often in my own way,” he said. “However now with players, and a collaborative atmosphere, we have
challenged each other to get out of our way.”
Chris and Peter come from a
variety of backgrounds. A Portland native, Chris has been in Princess
Ugly, Robinson Moncrieffe and Dorian Crush, shaping the vocals and
shiny guitar sounds of each respective act. Peter has been in the
Wisconsin power-punk group Ben Grim, the sadly split up Portland
power-pop group Jennifer Echo and his surprisingly infectious
nerd-core reggae project, Mister Saturday.
Sylous on his bandmate's musical contributions:
“I just wanted to tell you that (Peter) would not take the credit, but
I am giving it to him. Although our guitarist is a prolific and
talented songwriter, Peter is the one who came up with more than half
the ideas for these songs. He is essentially the one who wrote most
of them, then Chris put his greatness to them. I am mostly in charge
of lyrics and melodies, as in the past I had to do them all. But this
is a true collaboration where we all employ each others' strengths.”
On his approach to songwriting:
“I am often interested in the way modern relationships function or reach for some semblance of what healthy could be. It seems now that is acceptable to have hurt and to show each other the bruises. The comparing of which seems to make people hold each other closer and tightly. Additionally, I am pretty obsessed with aberrant behavior, but where familiarity can be found. People find other persons for reasons known or unknown and how they assign value to those things or latch onto them is what makes it incredibly fascinating. Tool kits are so divergence, textural and nuance, and require that exploration. There is love to be had in the most disgusting places, in the most inopportune moments and is not often aware of self. In the lyrics I speak of all things ranging from post apocalyptic scenarios, domestic abuse and superlatively dark places that people do not want to talk about but have experienced, I suspect on some level. Within those places we seek love with fury and should never leave.”
My Darling Boy's first demo should be available online in the coming weeks on its Myspace page.
