DEATH OF FASHION

___Death of Fashion (Jesse Davis, Daniel Boivin, Jacob Bills, and Darryl Specht) does not play pathologically. There is no psychologizing in their music or in the way they construct it. Making music is not an ersatz therapist, and adolescent angst is nowhere to be found. They have managed to escape the thoughtless compulsivity of post-modernism, and seek, rather, to re-“fashion” and redirect the trajectory of music. They possess a profound aesthetic wisdom bolstered by strict artistic punctilio, lupine curiosity, and inexorable devotion to creating that runs swifter than the stagnating zeitgeist.



___Their music is mature and intelligent, all the while maintaining a kind of insouciant playfulness. Fearless, uncompromising, and thankfully bereft of complaining, they do not bitch and moan, but revel in and challenge the interminable capacity of music to move, instruct, and enhance. From Davis' seething, lush baritone to Bills' exquisite, wildly oscillating sonance, from Boivin's focused and frenzied drumming to Specht's bizarre and innovatory bass, Death of Fashion creates a sound of coherent insanity. Ferine bass, crack-pot keyboard, feral drumming, and twittering guitar lend themselves to the inquiry into the endless possibility embedded in creation and interpretation. Drawing on diverse cultural cliches, from the polka to Japanese kabuki, they traverse and transgress the gamut of aesthetic contrivances while operating within those stylistic circumscriptions. Despite the structural complexity and innovativeness inherent in their music, they do not use their intelligence to pontificate or posture, and do not seek to alienate or speak down to their audience. They have faith in and respect for their listeners, their music, and themselves, and refuse to ingratiate. They do not wax philosophical. They do not mire themselves in existential fatalism. They do not waste their time with irony or cleverness. Neither didactic nor self-aggrandizing, neither arrogant nor cynical, the love what they do and don’t really care if you do too, although it would be nice if you did.

___They are captivating performers. Watching a Death of Fashion show is like being bulldozed by a cotton ball. They do not overplay in desperation, but present their music with great tenderness and generosity. Despite this gentility, you feel like you’ve been punched in the face, and it feels good.

___The boys of Death of Fashion have, thank the lord, managed to duck the fatal “hipster” image. They manipulate those modes of self-assertion in a droll and well-put-together manner. Clean yet unconcerned, kooky yet classy, they don't try too hard and their style has the same integrity as their music. They have been dressing like this for years, and were the ones who were called nasty names in high school for looking “different.” Boivin is short and wiry and sports a wild, curly mop; a ferocious drummer despite his apparent sweetness. Davis is blonde and tall, with a kind of puppy-like bravado. Specht is tall and slender with a style that harkens back to Jimmy Stewart, with an onstage personae that is unassuming while demanding attention. Bills is lean and dark-haired, demonstrating a kind of intensely focused lunacy. From epileptic moves to suave sauntering, the image they convey on stage is electric and amusing. They are constantly attuned to one another, and never vie for attention, not taking themselves too seriously, while seriously pulling it off.



___Boivin, Specht, Bills and Davis all grew up together. Raised by devoutly Christian families, a community from which they have distanced themselves, they have maintained that core of morality and commitment, supplanting the church with a belief in art and all that it can do. They are like family – living together, working together, and even learning their instruments together. They all contribute to the songs and do not fight over credit. They are magnanimous and loyal to each other, and this ethic is evident in their music.

___These kids are smart – they read great books, they write great songs, they have great conversations, and they are interested in the future of art, where they fit into it, and how they can further it. Mesmeric and challenging, ravenous and humble, Death of Fashion's music is laid unabashedly and unselfconsciously out there for everyone to see. They have so much integrity and curiosity that, when exposed to their sound, you can't help but be enhanced as a person. Death of Fashion demonstrates such prowess and variety they are almost too good. They may benefit from reigning themselves in a bit and not trying to do everything at once. It's sad that they are forced to live in a world with no true, unifying social climate, but they manage to be unprepossessingly reactionary despite such a otiose culture. Indubitably, these demiurgic gentlemen are the vanguards who will effectively soup up the present laziness and predictability of today's musical paradigm.



Alice Carriere

February 2008