Light flashes in the distance like explosions in the evening. Humidity wraps the coming night like a blanket. The porch-light is a swirling mass of insects. Cicadas call, sweat falls, the rain is coming.
This is the backdrop of “The Millers,” the first solo album of Dane Gregory Sybrant. The record is a song cycle that revolves around a Midwestern couple trying to survive their marriage and endure one more night. As the storm rages, tongues long held lash out, words unsaid find voice, and simmering violence threatens. Each song is a different aspect of their failing relationship, varying in genre and subject matter but sketching together the Millers journey through the dark. As the morning breaks, the sun illuminates the damage, the decision, and the healing that begins with a new day.
Recorded at home as an homage to lo-fi adventures of years past “The Millers” finds Dane recalling his 4-track roots, playing (almost) every instrument, singing, strumming, mixing, and summoning the ghosts of musical heroes past and present.
Did the Millers make it through the storm? Listen… you might hear it in the crickets.
Listen to Dane Sybrant “The Millers here.
