Released August 24, Alarm Drum quietly dropped one of the best and most promising indie rock releases from the Midlands this year. Recorded at Archer Avenue Studio in Columbia, the 6 song Colorsick EP drags you comfortably through a hazy a dream with swells and memorable emotional hooks. Colorsick thrives in the production, with Ian Graybill’s tasteful electronic touch designing a beautiful set for each song as Andrew Graybill’s vocals melt in the songs cracks. Andrew’s guitars almost seem secondary for much of the EP, never trying to overpower the music, but working more to fit right in.
Colorsick is Alarm Drums first release, and includes the single “You and Me” released in February of this year. It’s easy to imagine the growth we’ll see on future releases, with more emphatic hooks and pointed lyrics surely to come. This EP is reminiscent of other uber talented South Carolina musicians who also jumped ahead at an early age like Hunter Duncan with his band Kill Anties and also Heyrocco’s debut album Brothers with songs like “Young” and “Alaska 1957.” When Andrew Graybill croons low and effortlessly in “Dirty Fingers” it’s hard not hear a hint of Hunter Duncan whose emotional vocals have carried each of his projects over the years, from Kill Anties to Yosef.
