XVIII Eyes
Seattle, Washington, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2014
Music
Press
Guitar-driven pop is one way to describe I’ll Keep You, the newest album from Seattle’s XVIII Eyes. Not only is it the foursome’s second full-length album to date, but fans got an early preview with the track, “We Only Talk in San Francisco,” a mellow tune that was inspired by some morning beers in the Bay Area. This kind of smart, lyrical storytelling helps the album along with each pensive track – thanks to its quiet melodies and stripped-down guitar riffs and gently paced beats. - AfterEllen.com
Nothing like seeing a guitarist play tasty progressions. Nothing like seeing a guitarist build tension, melodies, noise that actually move you, but not in the way of an in-your-face lead, but in a way that elevates a song and the emotional message of that song. It’s subtle, but you focus on it, what’s happening there, is beautiful. - Effects Bay
Eighteen Individual Eyes, as they are known, are a band of balance and counterbalance. Their dual guitars drive indie-sutured progressions through onyx-coated chutes. Songs are hypnotic and full yet also full of sparseness. Live, they're completely in their element and the compositions have no ceiling. Vocalist Barber casts a glossed and pleading vibrato over the clean melodic runs and distorted panels of Aaron's Fender Jaguar reissue. The bass and drums of Wood and King batter and plant a well-ordered pulse. - The Stranger
I'll Keep You, the sophomore album from Seattle-based and queer-led XVIII Eyes, is a catchy, pop evolution that isn't afraid to skew dark and experimental. Alt-pop songs like "Volcano Surfing" and the eponymous "I'll Keep You" are relatively mainstream audience-friendly, but once captivated prove to be a gateway to the goth-infused "Multiples" and psychedelically dream-like "Low Tech." The whole album balances on a tight-wire of creativity and alienation, successfully experimenting without losing listeners, and the end result is a concept-driven project that is worth exploring again and again. "We Only Talk In San Francisco" was released as an advance single and makes for an excellent introduction. It encapsulates what I'll Keep You aims to achieve: music that is smart, psychedelic, approachable and haunting, all at the same time. - Curve Music
Discography
Still working on that hot first release.
Photos
Bio
In a conversation that lasted under 30 seconds, Irene Barber, Jamie Aaron, Samantha Wood, and Andy King agreed that the mouthful of a name their band had gone by for the previous four years, Eighteen Individual Eyes, would be shortened to the more straightforward, but still enigmatic, XVIII Eyes.
The transformation to something more accessible and decisive essentially, the tapping of a pop vein is mirrored in the bands sophomore release, Ill Keep You (self-released November 12, 2013). In a guitar-driven pop adventure through sound and space, XVIII Eyes reveal that the dark, brooding figure, the subject in the bands 2012 debut Unnovae Nights, emerges from the bog turning out to be perfectly human. A handsome stranger that says "hello," takes you by the hand and says, "Lets hit it."
Triumph, however, is held in delicate balance. Songs like "Ill Keep You" and "San Francisco" wear themselves inside out as the haunting, hypnotic pulse of the Wood/King rhythm section pushes Barbers siren warnings ("Your heart just aint cold enough / to get caught up in this", "Now you know what criminals are made of"), but are pulled just out of foreboding reach by Aarons sanguine guitar. The commanding psych drive of "SUN150" shifts pace and carries an urgent message of steadfast romance heard throughout the album.
Unnovae Nights was lauded as "dreamy shoe-gazer swooning [reconciled] with jagged fury so brilliantly, you wonder why more bands havent forged a similar path" (The Sunbreak). Unnovae Nights named for a quietly imploding black hole is a narcotic, sensual nightmarish loss of self. Ill Keep You is the resurrection and awakening, a renaissance of love of and of goodness.
Ill Keep You was recorded over four days at Red Room Recording in Seattle by producer Matt Bayles. Bayles, known primarily for his work with slick electo-indie staple Minus The Bear and hardcore bands such as Mastadon, Russian Circles, and Cursive, joined in the bands evolution and pushed in new sonic directions for Ill Keep You by experimenting with mic-ing and mixing techniques. The outcome is a palate that is raw, daring, and showcases a band that has hit its stride.
"Live, theyre completely in their element and the compositions have no ceiling," wrote Trent Moorman of The Stranger. XVIII Eyes, with Barber up front as "one of the citys most alluring vocalist" (Seattle Weekly), are a strong part of the new millennium Seattle sound, playing Bumbershoot, Capitol Hill Block Party, City Arts Fest, Mo Wave, receiving regular airplay on KEXP, and serving as local support for numerous national acts. XVIII Eyes' stage magnetism was taken to the Midwest during a 2013 tour with Minus The Bear.
Performances have included local support for Surfer Blood, METZ, My Goodness, Lovers, and Dirty Projectors.
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