The indie-rock collective isn’t dead: San Francisco’s eight-person Photons are bringing it back with a new mixture of sounds on their self-titled, self-released EP. While formed by songwriter Calvin Liu, he still sits down at the drums, which lets the four men and four women (a much more even division of the sexes than in any other collective…) all get their own licks in, from bass to bassoon, guitar to glockenspiel. Yet it all combines together well, in the memorable – if unusual – Photons EP.
One interesting mix coming from Photons is the range of both high and low sounds. While the wind instruments generally play high, giving an airy atmosphere to much of their work, singer James Parrish’s vocals are far deeper, drawing from the New Wave of the eighties and the neo-New Wave of today. And while that does help keep their otherwise pretty sound from floating away, Parrish’s vocals are also left a bit too prominent; lain next to clarinets and the like, he sounds a bit stuffed-up, even non-singing.
But focusing on that flaw takes away from all that works about Photons EP, and there’s lots of it. Though starter “This Must Be Love” is (as the title indicates) a little twee, it’s also charming (though may not have been the best choice to lead off the record). Things really get interesting on the following “What Do You Want From Me”, which puts a relaxed, ska/dance-like guitar riff through some serious fuzz, and balances Parrish’s vocals in a duet with one of the band’s many women. “Something Left to Live For”, meanwhile, takes a pretty press and adds some seriously grand guitars that reach massive heights (they do, however, leave one wishing Photons had done more of this on the rest of the EP). The more collective aspects of the band come through on the strong “Cease and Desist” and swaying “Animals” (though the wonderful female back-up vocals on “Animals” kind of out-class Parrish’s lead vox). Finisher “Goodbye For Now” is perhaps the most unique mix: a dark, reverbed, eighties World Wave vocals lain over a restrained, even folk-ish piece, with wind instruments and bright keys; yet it somehow all comes together.
With so many different, but wonderful elements in the mix, it’s actually no surprise that anyone listening to Photons EP would be able to find a few strands of sound that they wish were more prominent than others (perhaps that’s why Parrish’s vocals might come in for the harshest treatment: they’re so often the most pronounced element, and thus the one that would most need to be toned down if any of the other sounds were to be amplified). Designed to be “a more cheerful Joy Division”, Photons do achieve that seemingly oxymoronic ideal in fine fashion.
