I am always a little miffed when I’m contacted by a local artist whom I’ve never heard of that’s preparing to release their third or fourth album. It’s not that I believe I should know every artist in the city — far from it. But usually by the time someone has released that much music, I have caught wind of them via a show or a late-night scouring session through Bandcamp and SoundCloud. Still, there are a lot of reclusive artists and hobbyists in the ATL, and many of them have been responsible for some of the more interesting and dynamic sounds I’ve encountered here over the years.
In the case of Dylan Fellows, who writes and performs under the moniker Visc, he is currently getting set to release his fourth record, a seven-song EP called Hello, Disaster. According to the bio Fellows sent us, his songwriting is influenced by the modern synth rock of Asteroids Galaxy Tour and the Faint, and while I can certainly hear those sounds bleeding through on the EPs title track, I’m also catching a distinct whiff of the airy, propulsive grooves often practiced by Radiohead or maybe Alt-J.
Given the title, you might guess the song — and by extension, the EP – is about conflict or an impending crisis, a notion which would seem to rub awkwardly against the track’s blithe synth leads and soft-spoken vocals. But that dichotomy is intentional, and it allows Visc to mask his dark subject matter with songwriting that is buoyant and boisterous.
“This song is basically talking directly to my faults and sour mood, and talking about how they will be contained in my apartment for the day, unable to spread destruction and misery into the world,” Fellows tells Immersive via email. “The album originally was just going to be faults of mine, but laid out in a chipper way. However, eventually I expanded on that and started being a lot more honest (which is a first for Visc). So the album not only touches on faults like lying and occasional anger, but also focuses on the all too real possibility of a failing music career, and having to get a corporate job (which isn’t actually that bad).”
Hello, Disaster is out tomorrow.
More Info
Facebook: @VivaVisc
Instagram: @viscmusic
SoundCloud: @visc
Twitter: @viscmusic