Ahead of their upcoming, evocatively titled album, ‘Joyboys In The Grindhouse’, Austin’s Name Sayers are known for their tight, yet somewhat offbeat, pop arrangements. Lead single, ‘Reaper’, which debuted earlier this month, is a gloriously dark track that will appeal to music lovers everywhere.
Accompanied by a music video shot in the studio, ‘Reaper’ sucks you in from the first note. It’s an essay in music form on how to write the perfect pop track. With vocals supplied by Devin James Fry who does double duty on guitar, the song feels at times as if it’s been – by design – recorded down a phone line, with the synths and percussive elements coming in from both right and left before darting to a comfortable central position. More often than not music these days seems to have been arranged to be listened to through headphones, and ‘Reaper’ seems to be one such track.
Fry is joined by Grant Himmler on bass and synthesizers, Garrett Hellman on guitar and piano, and Marc Henry on drums.
‘Reaper’ is a deeply introspective track, looking at whether or not we are as good as we think we are as people; what are we doing with our lives? Do we have control, or are we ultimately puppets controlled by some outward force. I guess it all depends on what your belief system is, but for most people the questions seem to come up from time to time: particularly in the middle of the night when we know we should be deep in dreamland – “I found it gnawing out my heart while I was sleeping”.
‘Reaper’ was recorded and mixed by Grant Eppley at Hen House Recording in Austin, Texas, while the cinematography was done by Evan Michael Crowley. and edited by Chandler Jowell.
Speaking about the album, Devin James Fry said,
“We made some brutal pop songs, and celebrated everyone’s creative input along the way.  Joyboys dips in and out of sonic worlds while still being very much a Name Sayers joint.”Â
Watch the official music video for ‘Reaper’ below, and find out more about Name Sayers and their music online on their official website, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Comments