In a city that’s direly needed an infusion of new, vital blood for a long time there are a growing number of bands that have emerged to offer original voices and bracing music. Super Water Sympathy are emblematic of the new breed, and their focus and direction belie their relatively short time together.
In late August 2010 the band coalesced around brothers Billy and Clyde Hargrove (bass and guitar, respectively) and includes Ryan Robinson (drums), Jason Mills (keyboards) and Ansley Hughes (vocals). They realized that not only were their energies and sensibilities compatible, but that they simply sounded good playing together.
Super Water Sympathy was born.
In late August 2010 the band coalesced around brothers Billy and Clyde Hargrove (bass and guitar, respectively) and includes Ryan Robinson (drums), Jason Mills (keyboards) and Ansley Hughes (vocals). They realized that not only were their energies and sensibilities compatible, but that they simply sounded good playing together.
Super Water Sympathy was born.
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| l-r: Billy, Jason, Ansley, Ryan, Clyde. |
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| Jason at work. |
By February 2011 the five were busy, as the band struck out for a series of regional dates, every one of which broadened their listener base and gained critical exposure. These shows (including a radio spot in College Station, Texas) were “…a really big deal for us,” says Ansley. “That was cool – that they thought we were good enough.” Soon there would be the album to tour behind, and other ideas to develop.
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| In from the cold: onstage in College Station, Texas. |
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| Ansley takes flight. |
The band knew they needed a facility that could do their stuff justice, and decided on Sandbox Studios in Shreveport. They cut a few demos with Darren Osborne, and got dad Joe Osborne on board for the full-length. The duo’s expertise, along with the work of engineer Denise Spohn, bore fruit. “We don’t want to rush it,” Billy said during the sessions, and patience proved wise.
The resulting record, Vesper Belle met with approval from both band and fans. The CD's cover art - designed by Robinson, a designer of no small skill - promised a collection of songs both moody and gleeful, pensive and expansive.
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| Billy under the lights. |
This precisely wrought tension and precision is in evidence in the shimmering pulse of opener "Spain." Mills and Robinson underpin the beautifully sad (or sadly beautiful) "Cherokee," and this is followed by the dreamy swell of anthemic "Where Creswell Ends," a crowd pleaser that enables the band to sweep away all concerns in a waving sea of bliss. (The song was featured in Dorothy Kristin Hanna's 2011 film, Love on the Links).
Deft guitar opens "Siren City," a haunted and vulnerable bit of longing with yet more striking lyricism: "Swallow me up, dear salty sea - show me off to your family," breathes Hughes - "...hold me underneath, 'til I can't breathe no more - then I'll wash your body up on the sandy shore."
A flash of impressions, a rush of wordplay, "You Us Hey" proved so infectious that the five decided to make an impromptu video for the song last winter, and its romping spirit is further amplified on "Fiji Bop." "What's your name?" it asks playfully, "'cause I like you and you like me, too."
Next, the taut "Village" hits on all eight as it reaches a rhythmic and sonic peak, and makes way for a clever comic turn in the sassy, roundabout fable "Moscow." And ambiguity and desire meet again in "Slade was Made."
Hughes, a heady admixture of Exene Cervenka and Siouxsie Sioux, layers the complexity of “Abzu” (a track of the caliber that most bands don’t deliver until way down the line), and grips the heart with her longing: "I want you like lightning wants to black out the city below - and you never pick up the telephone..." before finishing with "Please make my heart shake!" - the only thing any of us can ask, really, and the band delivers it here.
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| Neil Johnson's fantastic promo shot for Vesper Belle. |
This is powerful, engaging work indeed. In the current-day realms of popular music there are tradeoffs aplenty, with aspiring acts mining exhausted rock ‘n’ roll tropes and hollow, faux-confrontational poses. SWS hews to their own impulses, and when you’ve got their particular amalgam you don’t need to shop around to flesh out your approach.
In the midst of the CD's release, as summer was becoming fall, SWS were hitting the road extensively and had logged 56 shows by late November. They made it as far west as San Antonio, north and south to Hot Springs and New Orleans, up to Nashville and even as far as Atlanta. They'd found their stage dynamic - now they were intent on finding new ears. The group's third appearance at the Dark Horse Tavern in Starkville, Mississippi, provides a good example of the turnout.
"It's starting to happen where...we're building fan bases of people we don't know...that - since we've had the album out - people have been coming to see us, it's just been spreading, out crowds have gotten bigger and bigger," says Robinson. He relates the story of Ansley, before the show, walking up to a group of people and asking about the large crowd.
"It's because of y'all," she was told. "The whole city's been talking about the show."
"We started playing," continues Robinson, "and there are people singing songs from our album. That moment's gonna always stick out in my head." He relishes the relationship the band has developed with several clubs, "homes away from home," such as in Starkville and Hot Springs. Billy agrees.
"We may play places where there are only 15-30 people -" he begins, before Ryan interjects "...but those people will be back, and they'll bring their friends." Of a city like Dallas, Billy observes "We can literally see how one fan adds to another - the thing is getting the [best] venues to get exposed." Robinson also attributes the quality of the sound to adaptation to "...all different types of sound setups, acoustics..." everything from playing right out on the floor to a large, looming stage.
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| Ryan mans the traps. |
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| Clyde prepares a solo. |
"There've been no setbacks with the music at all," he says. "The only stress is living dual lives. Maybe we get into fights, but they're just like family fights. I get more rest during the work week by far - it takes me all work week to get back the energy I lost on Friday and Saturday" (understandable, given a band's post-show adrenaline buzz).
A Thanksgiving Eve show at Chicky's Boom Boom Room in Shreveport saw the band trading fierce energy with the throngs of their ecstatic local following. After the openers, Austin favorites Ben Cina got things off to a soulfully rocking start, the lights were lowered and the set began. It was a smoky, swaying treat for the packed house, and the last-but-one set for the band before a well-earned rest.
Around the new year it'll be time for a midwest and northeast tour, courtesy of a lucked-upon RV and a desire to test new waters.
"We're already working on a map of how we're going to do it," says Billy. Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights will be reserved for regular sets, with Tuesday and Wednesdays hopefully open for more intimate acoustic sets.
They're taking a gradual approach to demos at the moment, and this will probably include field-testing some of the newer material to gauge listener reaction (such as with the tempo-shifting, genre-splintering "Lucy Blue Who," a jazzy little delight aired at the Chicky's show).
"We've got three songs we've been working on that are almost done," says Jason. "Most of the music's ready to go, but we're still working on the lyrics...we always have ideas that we like, that we want to turn into songs.
“It’s the past mixing with the present…it’s the mainstream and counterculture meeting in the middle.”
Whichever path the band takes, it will be their own, and they appreciate this. "It's rare for an indie band to do a full-length album right now," says Billy.
They're ready for the new year, ready now for the rest of the country to meet them, ready to get more hands in the air.
They're ready for the new year, ready now for the rest of the country to meet them, ready to get more hands in the air.
Further info, dates etc. at http://www.superwatersympathy.com/
Booking info at superwatersympathy@gmail.com
Dave Bottoms
