The Depreciation Guild (SCQ's Year-End Questionnaire Part II)

Although 2010 saw The Depreciation Guild continue to affix shimmering modern ideas to indie’s retro-obsession with Spirit Youth, it wasn’t enough to hold the Brooklyn outfit together. Alongside his candidates for album-of-the-year, vocalist/guitarist Kurt Feldman divulges the end of The Depreciation Guild and his post-band plans. This revelation, as far as I’ve gathered, might be an exclusive but on behalf of every DG fan: Kurt, don’t quit music altogether! (Photo by Drew Reynolds)

SCQ: Every list-lover's favourite question: what are your top albums of 2010? Feel free to include any older yet worthy records you discovered this year.

KF: San Serac - "No Twilight"
Serena Maneesh - "No. 2: Abyss In B Minor"
Games - "That We Can Play"
Toro Y Moi - "Causers Of This"
Hooray For Earth - "Momo"

SCQ: What were you listening to a lot of while recording the excellent Spirit Youth?

KF: according to last.fm:
Gangway, Scritti Politti, Wild Swans, Babel 17, Brighter, Microdisney, The Ventures, The Passions, Swing Out Sister...

SCQ: Be cocky for once in your life: what was the finest thing you did all year? That moment where you actually thought "shit, I nailed that..."?

KF: I really didn't "nail" anything actually. In general, 2010 wasn't really all that great and things kind of fell apart for me and the band. I'm looking forward to moving on and seeing what the future has to offer.

SCQ: Effect and Cause: As 2010 continued to exploit the last of the 80s' resonance, I took solace in your record's vital mix of retro and modern songwriting, which culminated on the gorgeously ethereal 'Blue Lily'. Okay, your turn: confess a true tale that inspired one of the songs on Spirit Youth.

KF: haha, actually, i'm pretty sure we just exploited the 80s too. I thought up the main melody line for "My Chariot" on a plane heading from sweden to new york. It came to me over the sound of the cabin drone. I remember at the time it was an A, but somehow in the process of writing the song, the key changed to B. That's really all i remember about writing this album. Some of the other songs on that album are up to 4 years old.

SCQ: If all the reasonable and implausible ideas in your head came to fruition in 2011, what would they be?

KF: probably to quit music altogether and go teach elementary school so i could pay off my student loan.

Spirit Youth - The Depreciation Guild

Spirit Youth

The Depreciation Guild
Kanine Records.

SCQ Rating: 76%

When the C86 revival kicked into high gear last year with jangly guitar and fey vocals taking priority, I expected The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart’s debut to be a launching point. Trend-wise, the NYC based outfit became poster-children but for a resurgence that never blossomed. Where was their entourage or, better yet, their competition? Bands have since referenced fringe aspects of the C86 sound – such as Wild Nothings on this summer’s Gemini – but its promise seemed to wither out of the gates as though the twee-rockers had modernized their homage to perfection.

A primary focus on Spirit Youth appears to be proving that notion false, and it’s ironic that the band responsible for vindicating that self-titled record’s direction, The Depreciation Guild, shares two members with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart. Aesthetic aside, these two bands cater to completely different fan-bases; unlike their twee-bearing peers who at least partially crutch themselves on fashion, The Depreciation Guild vanish behind walls of gauzy indie-rock and grand (yet accessible) experimentation. ‘My Chariot’ meets these principles head-on, lending shoegaze guitar washes to quivering electronic programming. And although the subsequent nine tracks assemble on similar merits, the quartet’s songwriting keeps their sonic escapades interesting. A soaring guitar warble feeds the spritely ‘Crucify You’ with a tempo that matches the speed, if not the pounding, of ‘Through the Snow’, a guitar-blast footnoted by fluttering keys. Despite their propulsive energy, Spirit Youth doesn’t shy away from its electronic veneer, at times replacing the ferocity of six-strings with masterful soundscapes (take ‘Dream About Me’, which sounds as if Ulrich Schnauss had been working the boards). This is what I’d hoped C86 might sound like in the 21st century, in no small part because The Depreciation Guild have armed it with studio-wizardry that faintly hints toward the future.

With a deceivingly massive scope and too gauzy to initially discern track-by-track, Spirit Youth could’ve easily burgeoned into a self-indulgent vanity project. The group’s ability to keep things taunt and aggressive makes this sophomore record a decadent treat, as even the odd overlong track (‘White Moth’) features more ambition than most retro-gazing bands (hint, hint). Okay, there’s nothing wrong with The Pains of Being Pure At Heart’s snuggly and concise indie-pop but I knew their muse deserved better. Attentive to the tiny musical details that can compound into muscular jolts, Spirit Youth has decidedly more substance.