The Depreciation Guild

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT NYC

Photo by Katelyn Roof

Brooklyn-based band The Depreciation Guild have brought back two late 80s artifacts: reverberating synth-pop and the Nintendo Entertainment System. Using guitars and a Famicon (the 8-bit sound chip from the NES), they create innovative, energetic dreamscapes, a novel combination of shoegaze and chip-tune music.

The band’s first incarnation was in 2005, when members Kurt Feldman and Akira Hashizume started experimenting with the Famicon as the source for their lush synth sounds and intricate, heavy drum beats. They released their first EP, entitled Nautilus, in 2006 on chip-tune label, 8-Bit Peoples. The next year, the band’s lineup and instrumentation changed considerably: Hashizume left, and twin brothers Anton and Christoph Hochheim joined and brought live drums and guitar with them, respectively.

Together, the three musicians released their first full album, In Her Gentle Jaws, available for free download on the Depreciation Guild’s official website. The album is a distinctive combination of bright synth, effects-heavy guitars, high-pitched vocal harmonies, and video game noises. Feldman’s voice is the serene, captivating highlight of the usually dense arrangements. Songs like “Darklooming” and “Digital Solace” are complexly composed, while beautiful ballads like “Heavy Eyes” and “Water Window” are tastefully simplistic, though still remaining true to the band’s unique sound. Last year, the band headlined Geekfest in Mexico and played across the United States.

Currently on Kanine Records, the Depreciation Guild are slated to release a new 7” single, “Dream About Me.” The song is a catchy, straight-ahead tune that showcases Feldman’s vocals and the Hochheims’ skilled instrumentals more prominently than the synth-based In Her Gentle Jaws.

The band will begin recording another full-length album in a few weeks, according to manager John Decicco. Catch them during September or October on their North American tour, which begins in Boston, takes them to Canada, and then back across various parts of the United States. Playing with them will be fellow-Brooklyners The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, of which Feldman and Cristoph Hochheim are also a part.

by Raj Mallikarjun