COLUMBIA — For much of the past decade, Dear Blanca has burnished their reputation as the local scene’s finest purveyors of old-school guitar-centric indie rock. While frontman Dylan Dickerson’s throaty delivery and seasoned songcraft are key elements of what makes the band tick, it was the adrenaline-inducing thrall of drums and electric guitars that made them such an enticing live draw.
Now, with their new EP “Nothing You Do is Quiet,” out Oct. 6 on Comfort Monk, they are pulling the plug, getting a little quieter and a little weirder.
Lead single and opener “Stay Away, Moon” sees Dickerson making more use of the lower register of his voice over a spooky piano line that is soon joined by synthesizer strings and horns, creating a fun-house version of a cabaret crooner tune.
“Cold Cold World,” the next tune, recalls the Modest Mouse left-turn masterpiece "Moon & Antarctica" with its icy acoustic guitar strums and understated drumming that marches along with layers of horns, strings, and piano sliding in and out.
The last song, the ironically titled “Everything You Do is Loud,” feels like the full realization of this new approach, with the traditional Dear Blanca rhythm section providing a propulsive roll over Dickerson’s buoyant piano line. And his throaty vocals sound like they are in their natural element, even without the electric guitar.
Throughout, the fingerprints of psychedelic pop maestro Marshall Brown, who collaborates with Dickerson in the band Shows and produces this album, are found everywhere. It creates a fantastic effect.
“I think we kind of got to where our records were centered around the live sound, just very guitar-oriented and bigger and louder,” Dickerson said of the decision to make a different-sounding record. “I just had this batch of songs that were just not that, that were kind of outliers.”
The decision to collaborate with Brown might look like a conscious decision to imbue some of his sonic hijinks and psychedelic instrumental layers into the process, but according to Dickerson, it was really about how much he trusted Brown.
“He’s definitely one of those ‘call them in the middle tonight and talk for hours’ kind of friends,” Dickerson said. “He’s just somebody that I feel so natural being creative around. He consistently puts on another little part or even just a comment or whatever that gets the whole room excited to be making something. It’s like a supernaturally creative environment.”
Dylan Dickerson of Dear Blanca (Photos by Alyssa Thorn/Special to the Post & Courier)
Dickerson holds Brown’s own work in high regard, calling his 2021 album "Ay Es Em Ar," his "favorite South Carolina album ever.”
For his part, Brown called himself a “Dear Blanca fanboy” and shares the simpatico vibes with Dickerson.
“Dylan (Dickerson) is one of those guys that just kind of clicked with when we first met,” he confirmed. “Ever since then, we love to make music and just let the time slip by.”
Listening to them talk about recording these songs makes that attitude abundantly clear.
The bones of “Stay Away, Moon” on the album come from Dickerson simply playing the song for Brown to see what he thought about it. After one run-through, the producer got to work.
“When he played that for me it was just like, ‘man, this is beautiful,’” Brown remembered. “I put some microphones on the piano real quick just because I wanted to hear it recorded. I don't think it was any intention of that leading to a finished product.”
Dylan Dickerson of Dear Blanca (Photos by Alyssa Thorn/Special to the Post & Courier)
With that initial recording, Brown added the synth string layers and tapped Charleston horn player Clay White for overdubs before bringing in the Dear Blanca rhythm section (bassist Cam Powell and drummer Richie Harper) at the end, the reverse of a typical production process.
Dickerson said having these studio-crafted songs was a fun change of pace, as was tapping into Brown’s mad scientist approach.
“His brain just operates differently than mine,” Dickerson marveled. “There's a million layers to the onion when it comes to his ideas. I feel like I have to fight my instinct to put a fork in something after recording like two tracks, so it’s a nice balancing act.”