To
some, pop music seems generally suspicious, especially when it wears
the robe of rock 'n' roll. And maybe it should. Sometime during the
latter half of its history—as rock music became harder, heavier,
angrier, and more aggressive—someone recognized that, when recorded
with a predictable kind of clarity, it could be commoditized and
hawked to a wider radio audience.
These
some see this as a suspicious contradiction; after all, something as
visceral as modern rock should
sound raw, rough, and at least a little reckless, right? And if it
doesn't, for what impure reasons mustn't it be messy?
Maybe
this is why Diamond, during an initial listen, seems suspicious—too
pristine, too perfect. Take Don't Lose Your Cool, the
Baltimore band's second self-released EP; “The Feeling”, for
example, begins with enormous guitar chords, smoked with the right
amount of rich distortion, sliding against each other with a slick
sort of friction. Singer Justin Gilman's voice, during the first
verse and chorus, is stacked in octaves—one low and soft, the other
a quiet falsetto—and only evolves into a single-voiced howl during
the song's next verse. Following another chorus that climbs higher
than the first, a guitar solo erupts, scalding and slow, from the
mountain this song has become. The fifth tack on Don't Lose
Your Cool, “The Feeling” is
dynamic; catchy and crunchy; and a powerful, unpredictable pop song.
If
pop music seems suspicious, if it feels manufactured or commoditized,
then it may seem surprising that Diamond follows DIY philosophies and
give their records away for free.
“We're
very passionate about keeping this entire being our own,” Gilman
says. “We want to build this monster where we're creating the best
art in general, and not necessarily music, whether it's a music video
that we direct from concept to completion, or an album, or our
posters or merchandise, or live video streaming events. We just want
to be this entity that promotes the fact that you can do it yourself,
now, because you can.”
It's
for this reason that, despite offers from a handful of independent
labels, Diamond continues to conduct its band business on its own.
“Nowadays,” Gilman argues, “it's less important [to sign to a
record label] because we've been giving our music away for free,
obviously, and we work with PR and merch companies ourselves. We're
sort of doing what a label would do, other than distro. Anyway, we
kind of like taking the wheel.”
Diamond
started when Gilman met guitarist Sam Trapkin at the Maryland
Institute College of Art. Gilman, at the time, was playing in an
indie band called We Read Minds, and Trapkin was constructing the
metal-influenced hardcore band called Trapped Under Ice. “We were
from polar-opposite worlds,” Gilman laughs, “but we still related
on loving music in general, whether it was Grizzly Bear, or
Hatebreed, or Radiohead, or the Beatles. We love everything if it's a
well-written song.” When Trapkin suggested that they combine their
musical powers and perform music that finds a middle ground, Gilman
agreed. “We grew up on 90s rock,” he explains, “like Bush and
Pearl Jam, Everclear and the Foo Fighters, Nirvana, of course,
Silverchair and Weezer. So we were like, 'Let's do a back to our
roots, simple, catchy-yet-unique rock band with a dark edge.'”
Their
design background allows Diamond to fulfill some of its DIY
desires—the band constructs its own aesthetic, from t-shirts to its
online presence to the album art of Don't Lose Your Cool—but
being from different musical backgrounds allows the band to pursue
another priority: musical ambiguity. “We're influenced by so many
different things,” Gilman says, “and we really, really don't want
to fall into a scene.” Because Trapkin and drummer Brendan Yates
tour with Trapped Under Ice and bassist David Wood performs in
hardcore band Down to Nothing, Diamond's polished pop is
tarnished with a subtle hardcore patina, which allows them to play
alongside pop-punk bands one week and indie bands the next.
A
song like “Sunburn”, which kicks off Don't Lose Your
Cool, might best capture
Diamond's ability to harness their hardcore influence and channel it
into a controlled, catchy song. Together, Trapkin and Gilman's
guitars scuttle from chord to chord, scramble to the adrenalized
pulse Yates' drums; when the song dips into a halftime chorus—when
Gilman's croon rises over suddenly clean, twinkling guitars; Yates'
tip-toeing cadence; and the melodic murmur of Woods' bass—it's
clear that Diamond succeeds where many other musicians struggle:
making pop music that is as thought-provoking and unpredictable as it
is memorable.
Of
course, Diamond also shatters that silly notion that anyone should
ever be suspicious of pop music, even those polished recordings are
wearing the robe of rock 'n' roll.
Gilman recorded these songs from his home office on a warm afternoon in early spring. He was still getting settled into this new apartment in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood of Chicago, which he had moved to a mere two days earlier.
"Keep Dreamin'" appears on Band's 2011 EP titled Don't Lose Your Cool. "God Only Knows" is a Beach Boys cover; the song originally appeared on the 1966 album Pet Sounds.
Visit the band's website for more music, or download Don't Lose Your Cool for free.
Sorry, but these songs were taken down due to space constraints. Please download The Switchboard Sessions, Volume Three for a track from this and other sessions recorded in 2012. If you're desperate for a copy of these tracks, please see the "About the Switchboard Sessions" page for info on how to contact the author.
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