{"id":42813,"date":"2021-05-05T12:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-05T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/?p=42813"},"modified":"2021-05-05T11:09:30","modified_gmt":"2021-05-05T15:09:30","slug":"playing-detroit-decliner-remember-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.audiofemme.com\/playing-detroit-decliner-remember-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"PLAYING DETROIT: decliner Set Expectations Ablaze on Debut EP Remember"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo Credit: Sidd Finch<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The members of brand-new Detroit trio decliner<\/a> can\u2019t decide if they\u2019re a punk band or not. \u201cI don\u2019t consider decliner punk,\u201d says bassist and beat-maker Steve Stravropoulous. \u201cI think there\u2019s a difference between Tim and I because Tim thinks it\u2019s a punk band and I don\u2019t… the more he thinks it\u2019s punk the more I try to make it not<\/em> that.\u201d Genre label aside, the group – made up of Stavropoulous, Rob Luzynski (vocals), and Tim Barret (guitar) – certainly embodied the punk lifestyle whilst making their debut EP, Remember<\/em>, out today<\/a> on FXHE records. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recording process, which is generally known to be long and arduous, took decliner about four hours and was produced and engineered by notable Detroit producer and techno artist Omar S, aka Alexander Omar Smith. The experience boiled down to two distinct lenses for the members of decliner. \u201cI was drunk and having fun so I wasn\u2019t stressed,\u201d says Luzynski. \u201cI was drunk and stressed,\u201d adds Stavropoulous. The stress element was mostly due to the shock of the fact that the band was actually recording. They went into the session with the idea that they were going to show Smith a couple songs, see if he liked them, and leave. Instead, they went in, recorded one track of each song live to a Tascam 16-track recorder, and had an EP. \u201cI was like, \u2018damn, I\u2019m not sure how I feel about this,\u2019 because it\u2019s just not how Steve and I usually work,\u201d says Barret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without the ability to add overdubs or edit the tracks after the fact, the band had one shot to get it right, and they laid everything on the line. \u201cYou can hear in some of the tracks that my voice is giving out basically,\u201d says Luzynski. \u201cLike, in \u2018Know,\u2019 that\u2019s me almost passed out…like I almost passed out from doing that.\u201d For someone whose entire musical career up to this point has been making rap music, it makes sense that Luzynski felt winded after a few hours straight of deep, guttural singing. But despite that it was his first time dabbling in this uncharted vocal register, Luzynski\u2019s disquieting vocals sound like they\u2019ve been brewing in the depths of his soul all along, waiting for the right time to come out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On \u201cBurn,\u201d the first and only single from the EP, decliner encapsulates the isolation of dead winter and the destructive paths we can go down to try and escape it. Barret\u2019s whirring guitar and Stavropoulous\u2019s unabating bass-line paint a vivid picture of quotidian mundanity. January in Detroit, when this EP was recorded, is always one of the most desolate months, especially during a pandemic. Plagued with iced over streets and sparse sunlight, a stillness sweeps over the city, making it easy for loneliness to make its bed in your home. Luzynski captures this bleakness with his blunt lyricism: \u201cMan this weather\u2019s really something\/I can barely feel my face\/I keep falling, someone catch me\/Before I go up in flames.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n