Silian Rail press /album reviews:
A San Francisco instrumental duo on the borders of more minimal mathrock. I personally really like the style they have, since it is alot more positive, different and active compared to alot of more typical post-rock/instrumental.
- After the Post Rock
Silian Rail’s second full length is a definitive statement on the future of post-rock. In a genre that’s become formulaic with long instrumental epics full of delayed guitar, Silian Rail is a breath of fresh air.
Parhelion features some of the most intricate guitar and drum interplay you’ll ever hear. One of the album’s standout tracks, “Death Should Know Better,” is incredibly technical, yet accessible enough for non-musicians to enjoy. Although their material is completely instrumental, an overwhelming feeling of optimism and hope radiates from the band’s songs.
Silian Rail is not afraid of catchy pop hooks, and revisits themes throughout their meticulously arranged compositions. Parhelion is a truly riveting and original piece of work from a band quickly on the rise.
- Savage Henry Magazine
Great instrumental indie rock from a guitar-and-drums duo. They sound much fuller and meatier than a two-piece, impressively without effects or over-production.
The music is down- to midtempo but engaging and driven (important for 5-6 minute songs), and there’s just enough tangential progressiveness without sounding disjointed or jammy. These are well-considered, well-executed songs, as they need to be for just two players, but Silian Rail isn’t a precision machine. Not that they’re sloppy (far from it), but at the risk of sounding like their press release, they do have a dynamic, live feel.
Putting it simply, this is the kind of instrumental indie rock I like – enjoyable to listen to, lacking in pretension, technically wowing yet seemingly effortless. Unless you’re the type who needs verses and choruses, it is hard to dislike Silian Rail.
- READ JUNK
There's no denying the technical prowess of drummer Eric Kuhn and guitarist Robin Landy.
- East Bay Express
Ambient instrumental metal -- simultaneously jarring and harmonious.
- SF WEEKLY
Bright jaunts through the math punk landscape. These instrumentals roll and wander quite nicely, doing a fine job of illustrating ideas. A fine setting for some internal housecleaning.
- A&A
Silan Rail are an entirely instrumental act, and despite having 'only' two members, have managed to develop their sound to compensate for this with often textured soundscapes that waste little time in quiet, or acknowleding their (assumed) influences in the likes of This Town Needs Guns, And So I Watch You From Afar, 65daysofstatic and most likely the emo/indie movement of the 90s. "Parhelion" is their sophomore album, and it's not hard to hear it. It doesn't sound like a debut, it sounds like a band who are confident in their approach to constructing songs, using their influences to help shape them but not define them. The tempo-shifts are one of the most impressive aspects of this album, "The Gift" is an example of their ablility to interchange between the quiet/loud dynamic seamlessly, without it being forced and without boring the listener.
- rockfreaks.net
Eric Andrew Kuhn and Robin Joyce Landy, the duo behind Silian Rail, grew up together in Durham, North Carolina (cute alert!) and then happened upon one another while partying in this fair city (fate alert!). What this joyous union created is a mixture of experimental indie, post-rock, free form, free jazz, “Freebird,” and freaking awesome.
This is no ordinary guitar-and-drum dream team. Landy plays as if she has 15 fingers on her right hand that aid in her intrepid picking technique. Pair that with multiple tunings and an unusual rhythmic sensibility, and we have before us one of the most innovative guitarists in the Bay Area.
Kuhn plays in 15 bands, one for every finger on the right hand I imagine Robin to have. But as the drummer for Silian Rail, his beats are sick. They are solid, brazen, and insanely inventive, adding just the right amount of filler between Landy’s notes. And to keep things interesting, he also plays the glockenspiel, the foot organ, and the guitar — all while keeping a beat on the full kit.
Silian Rail is an absolute pleasure to see live. You will leave the show with ringing ears, glazed eyes, the desire to start a new band, and a copy of their latest release Parhelion (Parks and Records) clenched in your sweaty palms.
- SF Station
Unique instrumental duo who make the most of what they’ve got. Lots of shifts in dynamics and it seems like these two have played together for decades (which maybe they have). A bit Slint-ish at times.
- DAGGER ZINE
I talk often about how some bands are able to inject some pop textures into a style that is usually bereft of such sounds. In my world, that’s code for “This group isn’t a slave to its genre of choice, so I’m willing to give the album the benefit of the doubt.” This is never more telling than when I happen up on an instrumental post-rock band whose music I can actually enjoy. I can always appreciate an album created by musicians with delay and loop pedal fetishes that can keep me interested for more than a couple of six-minute-long tracks overflowing with needlessly profuse guitar noodling.
Much like its big brothers in Shuteye Unison, the guy-girl duo comprising Silian Rail takes up the flag of delicate post-rock, but not before bestowing it with some math-rock teeth and some sensible pop flourishes. Parhelion proved itself a pleasurable listen because it refused to settle for bunch of arching, aching, towering anthems built upon repetitive series of quiet-loud-quiet-loud sections. Instead, the listener is presented with cogent song structures with subtle verse-chorus-verse-chorus appeal, meaning that certain key phrases were revisited and revamped within the confines of each five-minute jam.
Cuts like “Death Should Know Better,” “The Gift,” and “Sweet Towers” present a band that’s crisper and more direct in orientation than contemporary two-pieces like Charles The Osprey, but with less need to be adventurous and daring. Parhelion is packed with sturdy tunes that mask the absence of a bass player very well, but I could just be mesmerized by Robin Landy’s deft guitar lines and by how Eric Kuhn keeps things on a very even keel at all times (especially since he works in some foot synth alongside his meticulous drumming). Silian Rail, with its nice rock energy and pop-influenced approach to rock dynamics, stands as a patent example of how post-rock doesn’t have to be the domain of endlessly epic endings that frequently falls into the realm of bland mediocrity.
- Dryvetymeonlyne
If I was strapped down to a polygraph, my children held for ransom, my life on the line, and forced to answer a question truthfully, I'd probably say that I don't like instrumental rock music. I'm good with jazz, fine with African, but instrumental rock music always seems to be lacking that one thing. Oh yeah, vocals. And if the band does manage to mutate and twist their sound around enough to keep my from falling asleep, the songs usually suffer from having their own head way too far up their own ass.
Silian Rail is different.
A two-piece on our friendly Parks and Records label, Silian Rail use guitar and drums, an occasional foot synth and the ever-desirable glockenspiel, to create wild, erratic, sweeping soundscapes. Sure the guitar has a pleasant, warm tone, but it's the tension between the guitar and drum that drive these songs. Somehow, Robin Landy and Eric Kuhn manage to flesh out the spaces with only these two instruments, without things ever sounding flat or empty.
And while my ear is instantly drawn to the wild, free-form meanderings of Robin's guitar, in truth, it's probably Eric's drums that drive this baby the most. Time changes? What time changes? We're talking different time zones here. Eric seems to be able to drop beats in at a dime, following the guitar, countering the guitar, sailing off on his own. Heck, I don't really know what he's doing at all, but it's a clinic in drumming, I'll tell you. Pretty remarkable.
None of that is to diminish Robin's guitar work, which is tangentially riveting. I never know where the guitar is going to take the composition, which path it's going to lead us down. Sometimes dissonant, sometimes angular, always fascinating.
9 songs here of remarkable musical vision. Instrumental music that's always interesting without being forced or pretentious. Songs that aren't lost up their own ass.
Hmmm, I may need to change my answer.
- Ripple Effect
We've said it before and we'll say it again. We sure do admire instrumental bands and artists because in almost all cases the folks making the music aren't driven by money or fame. Instead, instrumental artists seem mainly motivated by the desire to create. Silian Rail is the duo comprised of Robin Landy (guitar) and Eric Kuhn (drums, foot synthesizer, glockenspeil). Considering that this band is a duo...they have a really big sound that will probably surprise many listeners. These intricate flowing pieces remind us of many progressive instrumental bands in the United States in the mid to late 1990s. The emphasis is on the instruments...as Landy and Kuhn prove without a doubt they are totally on top of their game on these recordings. Our favorite compositions include "A Leap In The Light," "A Bone In The Riverbed," and "Sweet Towers." Another exceptional release from the fine folks at Parks and Records...
- BabySue
Silian Rail plays with chaotic drum beats and open-tuned, finger-picked guitars, plus a handful of other instruments - glockenspiel and foot synth - to form a dense, atmospheric sound. Their repetitive songs are asymmetrical, instrumental monoliths.
- San Francisco Chronicle
I stumbled across this instrumental guitar-drum duo out of Oakland by the name of Silian Rail. I took a listen to a few of their songs and liked what I heard — reminded me of a more nuanced, less bombastic Explosions in the Sky. But this band is really is their own thing.
- saket vora
before i started listening to 'parhelion' i had rickets, a nasty case of Tourette's syndrome and an ugly disposition. luckily, the good folks in Silian Rail knew just what to do. first their album made my heart three sizes bigger, then it got me cuttin' rugs with a rapture and now i no longer curse at small children uncontrollably. thanks 'parhelion,' i love you.
- Andrew Macy, Musician (Tall Grass / Aimless Never Miss)
I can still remember the day I first heard You Forgot It In People- slumped on a beat up couch in college at 3am in a state of tired half-consciousness. The record created a paradigm shift in how I thought about and listened to music. It opened this world of full album listens; the soundtrack to just laying around and absorbing, or many a night drive. All comparisons aside the Oakland duo, Silian Rail, brings me to those ethereal places I first start exploring over a decade ago with their latest album, Parhelion, a beautifully flowing and engaging instrumental record. I spoke with Eric and Robin from the road who helped shed light on their studio approach, how they arrived at their current sound from not even owning guitar tuners, and why they’re a band without a mission statement.
- The Blood Beat
Parhelion is Silian Rail‘s second album and first for the environmentally friendly label Parks And Records. The guitar/drum duo from Oakland, CA plays an interesting brand of instrumental rock. The band covers a lot of musical ground, especially for a duo, yet never feels stretched in the least. Parhelion runs its 40 minute course pretty seamlessly rarely having those “A-HA” moments but never quietly fading into the background either. I’d like to see the band scale back on the song lengths at times but hell, that’s more a criticism of the genre than Silian Rail. If you can find an instrumental rock band that you just can’t quite find a comparison for than I think its safe to say you have a winner. That’s certainly a rare quality to have for this genre as it all seems to overlap at times but Silian Rail have settled nicely into their own groove with Parhelion.
- Sound as Language
Oakland duo Silian Rail have made an album celebrating the tone of the well played electric guitar with by smart percussion. Robin Landy (guitars) Eric Kuhn (drums, foot synth, vibraphone, glockenspiel) take instrumental music to the next level on their Parhelion album.
Their "less is more" approach focuses on textures and natural echo. At first sounding like "roll tape and put out an album" turns out to be a layered piece of work that unveils fresh gems after each listen. The adequately titled Maps And Mazes is a rock song crashing into jazz licks before turning into a vibraphone driven lullaby of sorts - the kind of music that will baffle budding guitarists and put a smile on the face of any musician with an open mind an a good ear.
- Here Comes The Flood
I always walk away from a Silian Rail show awed. The complexities of their compositions, coupled with the relaxed efficiency of their performances, leave me with a satiated stoicism; like I just saw something more spiritual than I intended to. In Parhelion, Silian Rail now have a relic that carries their energy and grace. The achingly melodious guitars, interweaving with the dizzying percussive arithmetic create a landscape for the listener that is both nostalgic and mystifying. Every song creates a mood specific to itself without compromising the integrity of the record as a whole. It’s their best work yet, with unyielding promise for the future.
- Mike Sparks Jr., Musician (By Sunlight)
I try not to make a habit of coveting thy neighbor’s anything, but Christ if Silian Rail doesn’t make me jealous. Jealous for their tone—some glorious, thick whomp that sounds like Bigfoot tap-dancing on the strings. Jealous for their composition—the rare form of noodley that travels down the road to an agreeable destination. Jealous for their form—the very fun ways in which they play multiple instruments at once.
Silian Rail’s new album Parhelion on Parks and Records is worth picking up, but at the Guayaki Mate Bar Friday night, they proved they’re better live; or, at least, the tricks are revealed. Seven or so effects pedals for the guitarist, a drummer that hammers guitar frets while striking the hi-hat and stepping on bass tones with his foot, and the elusive connection required to pull it all off. See them if you can, leave happy and envious.
- City Sound Inertia
Not since I saw Hella have I heard such mind-blowing interplay as that between Oakland guitar-drum duo Silian Rail. Just wait till you see drummer Eric Kuhn hold down a complex beat while playing guitar.
- San Diego City Beat
Silian Rail is an instrumental act that’ll remind you more than a little bit of Slint
- San Diego Reader
Silian Rail’s second full-length album, Parhelion, has finally arrived via the small Bay Area label Parks and Records (and the label has kindly made a short preview of the album available to hear). It follows in much the same fashion as their debut, and I you, to pieces, offering more of their intense, progressive grooves that place these two musicians in such high regard. Robin Landy is one of those guitarists I have to limit myself to hearing just to keep myself from succumbing to the urge to give up and put my guitar down for good, and Eric Kuhn just might be the finest rock drummer you’re likely to hear in the Bay Area today. When they’re on, they’ll simply knock you flat on your ass.
- Pop Dose
Parhelion is filled with the kind of adventurous [yet, melodic] instrumental wandering that has become the signature sound of guitarist Robin L. and multi-instumentalist Erick K. Together they manage to make songs that feel like a narrative; tenuously shifting enough without overindulging in an avant-garde sonic masturbation of sorts [which is sometimes my least favorite part about instrumental bands]. If you close your eyes you can almost see a short film unfolding.
- The Deli Magazine
Silian Rail is what a two piece should be: super full without feeling forced; super interesting without being confusing or feeling self-indulgent; most importantly, both Eric and Robin are superbly deft on their instruments. I usually feel like five minute instrumental jams are either repetitive or excessive. Silian Rail's Parhelion is neither. A perfect blend of Sharks Keep Moving, Promise Ring with some Chicago and Chapel Hill, it's a record that would serve equally well as background music at the record store or with the lights turned off sitting on your couch in the middle of the night losing yourself in every pluck of the guitar and hit of the drums. Parhelion will make my top ten list this year for sure.
- Matthew Izen, Musician (The Velvet Teen / Polar Bears)
Silian Rail is an Oakland two-piece, playing instrumental post rock. A guitar surgically attached to a mound of pedals, and a stack of drums. Eric, the drummer, was able to play both guitar and drums at once, pretty impressive, and even more impressive – he also played a foot bass controller (think oversized pedals that make up an octave on a piano that you can play with your foot, and in his case your bare foot).
Though it was often dreamy, they were able to keep the audience awake with elaborate drumming, and a good amount of riffage. At one point near the end of the set Robin, the guitarist, dropped some bar chords in between her normal effervescent notes. I thought Ozzy was going to come out and bite the head off of a bat.
The music was complicated, but not a challenge. No grease can needed, for the machine is well oiled.
- The Bay Bridged
Hmmm, Silian Rail. I have been watching their shows for years. I always leave totally impressed and inspired, a feeling that has never been rivaled by their recordings until this new album. As an engineer I know that it can be tricky recording and mixing something that wants to sound heavy, but has no bass, no vocals. Somehow, on Parhelion you feel the same impact as in their live set. The same hypnotic chaos that Eric brings, the same admiration/insane jealousy that I experience while watching Robin play guitar at a Silian Rail show, I feel it on this record. I could toss around words like “live”, or “dense”, or “powerful” to describe it, but I’m going to go with the word “real.” Like old Fugazi records, the tiniest imperfections are left in for the listener and it feels real. I have missed that when I listen to most new albums and this record has reconnected me with that.
It used to be that every time I heard someone talk about Silian Rail, it would always be said “you have to see them live, the recordings don’t do them justice.” I’m happy to say that this is no longer the case. Of course I will still go to see them live, but now I can play this album in between shows and not feel like I am missing something.
- Daniel Mckenzie, Musician (Shuteye Unison / Identical Homes)
die zwei kann man ganz locker auf die schulter nehmen. und mit post rock ist das ganze dann auch abgetan. tut man sich ja zuweilen schwer mit so einer genrezuteilung. die instrumentelle version hiervon präsentieren uns jedenfalls silian rail. ein bay area duo, das die weithin bekannte variante des drum- gitarre- beziehungsverschnitts zur wahl nahm. sofort entziehen sie sich aber jeglichen vergleichs, denn ihre kompositionen sind zu ereignisreich, lebendig und unaufgeregt verstrickt, dass die beschäftigung mit dem objekt leicht von der metaebene ablenkt. dieses auf parks and records veröffentlichende duos hat prägnanz, standfestigkeit und das genau richtige maß an virtuosität. nie kommen die beiden in den verdacht, dass sich hier jemand um kopf und kragen spielt, dass die persönliche agilität, das kreisen um das ausgewachsene ego wichtiger wäre, als der konzentrierte gemeinsame auftritt. robin landy forscht an ihrer sechsaitigen nach ausflugszielen und immer wieder lässt sie erkennungsmarker zurück, mal einen faden, mal kieselsteinchen, je nach lust und laune, scheint es. und dem hörer obliegt es, ob, wie lange und wie konzentriert er folgt. denn mit eric kuhn offeriert sich das zweite standbein, der multiinstrumentalist steuert hauptsächlich den diffizilen wie ausgeachsenen beat bei. dass das nicht alles sein kann, dürfte klar sein. ansonsten wäre die chose mächtig mager und keinen aufreger wert. kuhn arbeitet perkussiv, kriegt einen organischen klang hin, stabilisiert und setzt akzente. so arbeiten beide an mehrfarbigen landschaften, lüften geheimnisse um stille seen und kleine schlösser. mitte der neunziger gab es in den staaten diverse bands, die progressiv zu werke gingen. silian rail können das auch. es gibt keinen erkennbaren steg ins neue jahrtausend. brauchts auch nicht. sie haben eine gemeinde, einen wirkkreis, einen hintergrund. sie sind freundliche menschen. und ihr aktuelles werk, "parhelion", klingt alles andere als düster, derb oder heavy. es stehen wahrlich die melodischen neben den rhythmischen ansätzen. die verschmelzung obliegt dem paar. was zumeist sehr gut gelingt. es ist wie welten bauen. das driften und sich hinfort spinnen gelingt ausgesprochen gut. glockenspiel und einige effekte via synthesizer tuen ihr übrigens, um des hörers liebstes kind zu werden. wenigstens für den moment.
- das klienicum
I remember when I first heard Oxxxes and quickly fell in love with them. Silian Rail sound nothing like Oxxxes. However. There is a strange frequency in the guitar sound of both bands, which makes the absence of a bass guitar wholly irrelevant and which hits you in the chest and rattles your fillings. There's a basement punk show familiarity to this record, while at the same time, some of the most deliberate and progressive song ideas and sublime melodies I've heard in the last decade (progressive meaning progress, not meaning prog). Lilting guitaristry composed in articulate stanzas and fuming waves, which one might expect to hear played on an accoustic, is heated up with rickenbacker pickup coils and vacuum tubes and then broadcast with surprising teeth and volume. But this is not rock'n'roll, nor is it really post-rock. The drums seem almost to play in harmony with the guitar as the two trade responsibility for the dynamism that pushes each passage to it's proper place. They're like a pair of djs who beat-match one another and seamlessly mix a really amazing Silian Rail track with another classic Silian Rail deep cut. They've both got stacks of Silian Rail records in their heads. So, every now and again at just the right moment a third instrument creeps into the mix in order to underscore the intent of certain moods... and most of the moods are good, if unnameable. Certain bands have a singularity; a oneness unto themselves. This quality typically makes them inimitable. Take Mogwai, for example. They spawned a million bands trying to sound like them, but none do or ever will. Such is the case with Silian Rail, as their reflexive song structures, ping-ponging rhythms, and melodies like dreams deferred all come from nowhere but the space where Robin & Eric imagine them and their whole becomes more than their sum.
Unlike most sophomore full-lengths, this album is a great Silian Rail primer. Unlike it's predecessor, 2008's And I You To Pieces, Parhelion is complete even without seeing the band live; it communicates the vision of the band without the caviat "you have to see them live in order to get it"... and I've come to appreciate that quality as the exemplar of a mature band. That shoudn't stop you from going to see them live though, cuz they fucking slay. Through every elegantly stated idea on the album (including the b-sides, if you should have the good fortune to hear them on slated subsequent releases) one hears inspiring musicianship, singularity of purpose, and feelings so real you'd swear they were your own.
- Matthew Solberg, Musician (From Monument To Masses)
Did I just see a Delorean -not the one from Spain- and a Mazerati get in a car wreck (as I drive by in my Ferrari)?. It's (Parhelion) a hot rod version of the instrumental trickery of the earlier parts of the past decade with moods pulling you in all directions. I'm thoroughly impressed by the musicianship of these 'two' individuals.
- Demetrius Antuna, Musician (Kata)
"...for half an hour, the Bay Area duo’s dazzling post-rock put into a play a ’78 Van Halen vs. Sabbath scenario (albeit on a fraction of the scale): the talented, no-name undercard blows away the headliner with technical ecstasy. Robin Landy and Eric Kuhn simultaneously played more instruments than the limitations of four limbs usually allow. Landy crafted stuttering, bass-like guitar lines drenched in spacey atmosphere; Kuhn played everything else – tat-tat drums, synths, guitar, glockenspiel – and sometimes all at once. Unburdened by vocals, the guitar (the spitting image of Lennon’s B&W Rickenbacker) spoke volumes, periodically constructing heavy walls of sound via lose-yourself, blitzkrieg riffing."
- Performer Magazine
Just got my hands on the upcoming Silian Rail record! "Parhelion" sounds exactly like Silian Rail is supposed to sound: live and locked.
- Anton Patzner, Musician (Judgement Day)
3 STARS. It’s hard to review Parhelion without reviewing post-rock as a genre, as most of the record’s pitfalls are the pitfalls of many post-rock bands—the songs meander aimlessly and repetitively, the instrumentation lacks diversity, and the music lacks hooks. Parhelion is guilty of those sins, but it will surely delight post/prog-rock lovers. This Bay Area duo manages the full sound of a larger band, and that full sound permeates the album, lending cohesion and continuity to the songs. The impressive musicianship shines throughout, defying the myth that post-rockers can't play their instruments.
However, the record remains a mixed bag. It kicks off with a rough start with the repetitive openers "A Leap in the Light" and "Death Should Know Better" which blur together. Further, the first few tracks lack the element of surprise that the second half of the album possesses. For example, the gorgeous, twinkly ending to "Maps and Mazes" comes from nowhere, disturbing the drone-y lull that the song has created. Other songs don't drone much at all; "To Ruins" is a blistering sonic journey that wanders through shimmering guitars and a fluid drumbeat.
Unlike post-rock legends like Sigur Røs, Silian Rail doesn't have that unique flavor that will win over fans from all genres. But, for people who enjoy post-rock, Parhelion will do quite nicely.
- VENUS
Parhelion (and all the excellent, sprawling, instrumental indie rock therein) can be obtained via Parks and Records, at Sunday’s (CD Release) show, or perhaps even your favorite local record store.
- The Bay Bridged
Eric Kuhn and Robin Landy, otherwise known as Silian Rail performed an impressive set, showcasing an enormous sound for only two members. They ventured through several songs from their last EP as well as their latest LP, Parhelion. Their dense and atmospherically epic sound melded well with the already ‘instrumental friendly’ crowd, which reached epic heights with the help of various projected visuals. It was nice to see the band play in a venue that complimented their style of music. Something I wouldn’t mind seeing more of.
- Kata Rokkar (review from GAMH show 8/28/2010)