Decibully – City of Festivals

Good Things to Come

If instruments had an orgy in Milwaukee, the resulting child would most likely resemble Decibully, the Midwest septet comprised of a banjo, a lap steel, and a keyboard; in addition to the standard guitars, bass, and drums. However, as the first track off City of Festivals, “On the Way to Your Hotel,” breaks open with eerily simple electronics and echoey choral loops, it becomes clear that Decibully is more than a Frankenstein’s monster of a band banking solely on the novelty of atypical instruments.
CoF is mellow without being tired. Seidel’s vocals draw you in, while Sanborn and Weber’s keyboards and Holliday’s banjo work to keep you there. Though at its inception Decibully included three members of the final incarnation of emo band the Promise Ring, their sound on CoF is closer to the indie-rock sound of Death Cab for Cutie.

Contemplative lyrics drive the album with “Spiderbites” tackling the anxiety of mortality, and “Holy Angel Choir” struggling with complacency and lethargy. Where the album addresses love, as in “Small Circles,” it goes beyond typical emo sappiness their roots may suggest. Though Seidel’s high, dreamy voice is a good compliment to the subdued nature of the album, it’s when the band is closely supporting him in the more rockin’ songs like “We Belong on Rooftops,” the funk-a-fied “Skipping Over the Goodbye,” and the energetic conclusion to “Holy Angel Choirs” that he’s at his best, belting out the words. There are golden moments on this album where they have a musical balance that demonstrates their potential. If these kids put their countless other projects aside to focus on Decibully, they will be a band to watch.