Silks – Pressure Waves

This album took 6 years to make! Give it 40 minutes of your time and thank me later

Released: 2023

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I was going to see Silks at Houndstooth on Wednesday night, but some late surprises prevented it. It’s too bad, I think they’d be fantastic live.

By today’s standards, they make long songs. On their 2023 album Pressure Waves, half of the eight songs are over five minutes long, and one is over six minutes. But they’re exactly the right length.

I’ve had a few of their songs in rotation for a while, but sometimes it just takes the right circumstance. So the other day when I was on the wrong streetcar after a long frustrating afternoon, and this song came on, it was perfect:

That crescendo at 1:40 belongs in a Lexus commercial. I could have fought a bear in that moment.

The combination of loud guitars, slightly off-kilter melody and wistful lyrics connected, and I wound up going out of my way to hear the album in full, arriving late to the thing I was doing. Excellent use of time.

I’m not generally a huge psychedelic fan, but Silks have a bit of a modern take on the sound, incorporating a lot of other influences without sounding like a kitchen sink band. There are lots of unusual time signatures and pacing changes but they always feel natural, or chaotic in exactly the right way.

The vocals from Laura Bower are almost all minor-key, and she mirrors the intensity (or subtlety) of her bandmates. This song has everything:

Another standout is Denim, it has disco elements to it but still manages to feel like a proper alt-rock banger. It’s got real Take Me Out energy to it, but I’d rather listen to Bower’s voice than the Franz Ferdinand guy:

Part of what makes this work so well is that the production feels rich but not indulgent. It’s a loud and full sound, but there’s nothing unnecessary in the mix. Long hypnotic sections are allowed to breathe, but never drag. It’s a difficult thing to pull off.

Mostly though it’s Bower’s voice. She sounds like she could pull off jazz standards, Jefferson Airplane covers, and folk songs without breaking a sweat. Looking forward to hearing it live soon.