Your Cannons

If you have just broken up with your significant other and you’re putting together a break-up mix, which I’m sure you do if you’re reading here with the rest of us, the local band Your Cannons is a definite must include on that mix... - San Francisco Chronicle

There’s a new band that have just sprung out of San Francisco called “Your Cannons”, they’re smart guys who use words like ubiquitous. A shoegaze/indie quintet, who were grown in Sweden and England – they have recently released a three-track demo through itunes and amazon called Dust Bowl EP.
There’s an otherworldly element in their sound, perhaps due to their alien lifestyle as non-Americans in America. Coupled with the tiniest peppering of psychedelia, their polished shoe-gaze sound results in a professional sounding unsigned band – worth a listen. - Living In A Tree.com

The five members of Your Cannons live and play in San Francisco, but they all moved recently from various far-flung places around the world. Chris (Guitar) and Andrew (Guitar/Vox) are from Oxford, Daniel (Guitar) is from Stockholm, Jeff (Drums) is from Colorado and Brendan (Bass) is from the Bay Area. They started out in 2008 and recorded EP Dust Bowl in early 2009. Andrew tells me, “We recorded the EP over a 12 hour, midnight to noon session, attempting to record everything as live as possible.”

The EP certainly has a music-at-midnight feel that suits Your Cannons down to the ground – it feels like a slow-motion mosh in a room filled with red strobe lights. The EP is only three tracks long but the musicians are clearly accomplished and the songwriting has a pathway, a goal, if you like, that’s easy to pick up on and listen to. I make a point of mentioning “High Noon”, a melodic, ‘whirly’ track with some great vocal trims – my favourite on the EP. The title track “Dust Bowl” is dreamy and dark, with hints of distortion, like a good cocktail. Nothing massively groundbreaking, but good to listen to. And “Only A Mile” sees a short-shift up into more indie-rock territory, some FX-y, hooky cool.

Musically? Very sound indeed, if you’ll pardon the pun. Lyrically? Yeah, pretty good. It takes a good range of soundscapes too, from the minimalist guitar/beats to full pedals, distortion and all the trimmings and trappings. All in all? I like this a lot, especially for a debut EP. There are some production gaps, and obviously room for sound development, but you can’t expect everything all at once. For now, you should all come and join me in the red strobe room.
8/10 - Music With An Exclamation Point

Two EP’s into a promising career and Your Cannons are exploring a dark terrain combining distortion and vivid soundscapes in equal measure. While EP2 may not immediately catch the listener’s attention in the same way as High Noon from the Dust Bowl EP the band have certainly made giant steps forward in style and song construction.

While comparisons to shoegaze are obvious in the deep set vocals, distortion and reverb, it is perhaps the spirit of Neil Young that most shines through, especially on EP opener and stand out track 18. It draws the listener into a world that feels both expansive and claustrophobic; it’s dark, brooding and fragile.

Filthy Lustre continues this path; it still has many of the strengths of 18 but sounds a little more forced. It has the feel of the band exploring their sound rather than pushing forward; which makes Siberia even more of a gem. The gentle intro with soft drum rolls before Andrew Chamings delivers his most confidant vocals on the EP; then we have things broken down midway through to allow the strength of Your Cannons soundscape style to sweep through the song. The EP closes with Sparks, a more traditionally sculpted song but one that suggests that Your Cannons have plenty more for the future. - The Boy Kicked Out At The World

The individual members hail from Colorado, Sweden, England, and The Bay Area. A sum through which we witness a reaction larger and more grand than geography. On their EP, Dust Bowl, the boundaries demarcating harmony and melody are blissfully muddied, but sculpted still into something tangible. Colliding the well-loved layered textures inherent in the shoegaze genre with gigantic riffs and hooks, Your Cannons is more Slint than Slowdive; less dream pop, more desperation. Due in part to dark tone of Chamings vocals, the band uses the building distortion to create a sound that leaves the listener overwhelmed at the larger reaction that occurs from the blending of a few simple pieces. Jump into the smoke, and let's get messed up. - Duck And Cover Music.net

Your Cannons are the latest Bay Area band to be chosen by our readers as The Deli SF Artist of The Month. Their latest release The Dust Bowl EP is availible now and you can check them out January 19th at Bottom of the Hill.

What food item best describes your music?
Black licorice dogs, we have an endless supply in our studio, they inspire us.

What instrument have you wanted to include but have yet to find a way to fit into your sound?
I recently bought a Melodica because I thought I heard Brian Wilson play one on Cabin Essence on Smile. It will probably be on every song on the next EP

Embarrassing childhood memory?
Bon Jovi

What musical artist would you like to grab a beer with?
Not Thom Yorke, he once lent me 20 pence to buy a pint at a Strokes gig in Oxford, when I gave him his change he slowly counted it. Probably Nick McCabe.

And finally, time travel or space travel?
Definitely time travel. There's so many amazing things that I've missed, the England World Cup win in '66, Keith Moon drumming, being at the Joiners Arms in Southampton when The Verve played the 'best gig ever,' dinosaurs etc. Getting anywhere of interest in this universe involves a lot of waiting, stasis, and sleep, and that's just not that exciting...

- Deli SF Blog