100 Bands in 100 Days Presented by Verity Credit Union — Day 13: These People Here
Music fans of the Pacific Northwest, hello and welcome back to 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 established and locally-adored northwest-based 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. Either way, we’re fairly confident you can come away from this daily segment with plenty of new favorites. Today our journey takes us to the brooding side of Seattle’s underground, with a band that’s sure to win over those who like their rock music atmospheric and extremely textured, These People Here.
If there’s anything you can say the underground of the northwest excels in, it’s great rock bands that like to wrap their songs in ethereal melody and instrumental color, two elements that drive home what These People Here are all about. This Seattle quintet may have all the elements of other atmospheric, somewhat shoegaze-esque rock bands you may be familiar with already, but what helps separate These People Here from the crowd is their sense of force. The guitar licks laid out by duel guitarists Rian Turner and Rebecca Gutterman may be often twinkly and somewhat light in tone, but these pretty guitars are often matched with everything from harsh feedback to eerie keyboard drones to Thomas Edwards’ technical drumming. Members of this band cite math rock as an influence, which is incredibly present on tracks like “Jimson,” which features a gripping and unpredicable song structure, and the sort of sharp, angular drumming that’s sure to throw you for a loop. Post-rock is also a clear influence on their furthest-reaching tracks, but These People Here aren’t the sort of band to just lay out a song with the obvious, done-to-death post-rock formula with slow, percussion-devoid instrumentation before building into a swelling crescendo seen coming from a mile away.
A Bitter Seed is the band’s forthcoming first release, a seven-track studio album chock full of tracks that range anywhere from one to six-and-a-half minutes. All across this record, you can hear the diverse influences of These People Here manifested into a daring album that manages to be simultaneously pleasant, yet with a strong pulse that makes the album feel more essential than your average modern dreamy rock band. The vocals from Aileen Paron (who’s also a notable and well-respected solo musician) have a lot of range to them, and perfectly hit home whatever vibe each track on A Bitter Seed is going for, whether it’s the driving and catchy “A Change in the Blood” or the syrupy and multi-faceted “Warning Bells.” Though the album does feel somewhat short in length, the amount of ambition on display, on top of just how much talent its individual members pump into every song, makes this release one of those special albums that you don’t see very often. A Bitter Seed is projected for release on November 11th, and trust us, it’s worth keeping an eye out for.
Follow These People Here on Facebook and Instagram, and keep up with the band through their official website, thesepeoplehere.com. You can pre-order A Bitter Seed via thesepeoplehere.bandcamp.com, and stream “A Change in the Blood” below.
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.
