100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 5: Freudian Slurp
Ladies and gents, welcome back to the fifth day of our third annual year-end daily countdown, 100 Bands in 100 Days, where every day until December 31st, we’re showcasing a new band or artist you have to know about, presented by Verity Credit Union. Follow the #100Bands100Days hashtag on Twitter to stay on top of all the bands featured and make sure to follow Verity on Twitter as well. Some days the featured act could be an accomplished (but still definitively northwest) local musician that perhaps you haven’t been turned onto yet, and other times they could be a band with a small following that just hasn’t had their deserved time in the sun yet. Today our local music highlighting expedition brings us again to Seattle, this time to shine our spotlight on a local quintet that’s difficult to describe in five or five-thousand words, Freudian Slurp.
Aside from being a band with perhaps the best logo of any band throughout history (see here), Freudian Slurp is a quirky and funky band with fun-loving and easygoing music, even if their style may not be one everyone will instantly gel with. Guitarist and vocalist Ian Hughes fronts the largely-instrumental band, subtly adding his often twinkly, faint guitar to the band’s tracks, and occasionally topping their songs with his eccentric vocal style, whose cadence is the type you would expect to be fronting an experimental rock band. Dylan Hughes’ meaty bass chops lend this band the intense, undeniable grooves they like to build their songs around, with David Dolengewicz’s fluid tenor sax pairing perfectly with these grooves, creating a vibe that manages to be sensual and somewhat jazzy in tone.
“Smooth” is a word that comes up often when discussing Freudian Slurp, and it’s perhaps the best fit for their diverse sound. Every aspect of the band’s style, from Travis Fisher’s keyboard playing to Dolengewicz’s skills on woodwind, comes together to forge a sound that’s so even-tempered and instantaneous, and yet is so meticulous, instrumentally and compositionally. The musicianship and interplay of Freudian Slurp are impeccably tight, as are the arrangements and compositions the band comes through with, but they aren’t so complex and challenging that you can’t just sit back in your chair and bob your head along to their songs, having just as much fun as they are. Edible Complex, Freudian Slurp’s full-length debut album, was released independently in mid-2014, and the band has since teased the possibility of new material via their website. One can only hope that new music is coming down the pipeline from this creative group soon.
In the meantime, you can follow Freudian Slurp on Facebook and Twitter, and keep up with them through their website, freudianslurp.com. Edible Complex can be purchased digitally and physically either through Bandcamp or CD Baby.
Submissions for 100 Bands in 100 Days are still open to any Pacific Northwest band interested in submission. If you would like to have your band submitted for a chance to be featured in this segment, consult this link for more information on how you can do so.
