On May 25, 2018, Taciturn released their highly anticipated EP This Will Make You Happy and first formal piece of tangible work. This EP put forth the bands image with its eerie yet pleasing guitar riffs, chaotic noise breaks spliced between pretty sounds, and minimalist album work. The EP was recorded in the basement of Brandon Leach’s conveniently deaf parents using scavenged, off-brand microphones and DIY microphone stands. It was later mixed and mastered by Nyle Hamidi.
Taciturn is comprised of guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Nyle Hamidi; drummer Kevin Ralph; and bassist Brandon Leach. The three met in the DC DIY music scene and decide to start practicing together relatively recently in January. With an array of song and sound ideas stored away, Nyle began introducing different avant-garde music ideas – comprised of atypical drum beats, droney baselines, and bizarre guitar tunings – that the band workshopped until their unique sound was found. Now, fans of Taciturn are unsure how to describe Taciturn’s unfamiliar sound and resort to terms like punk, post-punk, no-wave, noise rock, alternative, etc.
It becomes evident while listening to the EP that Taciturn is inspired by bands like Sonic Youth and METZ with their noisy riffs and unconventional play style and song structure, as well as Joy Division and Moaning, with their ability to express melancholy sometimes masked in danceable riffs. Individually, the members have extremely varying taste in music. Kevin’s music experience is comprised almost solely of DC hardcore bands, while Brandon prefers the gentler sounds of Fiona Apple and Elliott Smith. Nyle comes from the suburbs of Arizona, where the lack of a music scene prevented him from fitting into a genre. This pushed him to explore other genres and eventually the unconventional music of no-wave and avant-garde. Ultimately, this is the sound that fans identify Taciturn with.
Following the release of the EP, press from all over the US – like Left Bank Magazine, Divide and Conquer, and the All Scene Eye – have reached out for an interview, to feature us, or to review the EP. Locally, This Will Make You Happy introduced many eager music goers in DC to something new and, as a result, Taciturn has built a reputable following. Taciturn will continue playing shows locally at a number of big ticket venues – i.e. Jammin’ Java and DuPont Circle Lawn for an interstate MLK anniversary march.