Listener are a unique spoken word rock band from Arkansas. They started making more noise on the popular music scene after the release of their 2010 album Wooden Heart. This year they have released an EP, Being Empty : Being Filled – Volume 1, through Black Basset Records, which is one of four EPs set to be released for a full-length album.
Listener’s style of talk music is made all the more unique by front man Dan Smith’s disjointed and twitchy shouting-speak of the lyrics, which are laden with passion and poetic beauty. At first, they may be a difficult band to listen to, as all new sounds tend to be, and it takes several listens of a song to fully ‘get’ the intention and poetry in the music and lyrics. But intention and poetry is, in the end, what you get. Smith’s vocals don’t simply wander away from usual vocal flows, they are quite wonderfully miles apart. They are not an easily explained band, coming from underground hip hop to fully fledge contemporary spoken-word-rock.
They will play the Joiners in Southampton on the 15th August 2017 with support from Kilkovec, Moper, and Josh Jones (spoken word).
Tickets are available here.
