PYYRAMIDS is the dark and mysterious union of two beautifully creative minds joined together from great distance. Improbably comprised of Tim Nordwind and Drea Smith – he from the indie rock band OK Go, she from the electro-pop outfit He Say/She Say – the duo initially bonded over an affinity for first-wave British post-punk and 80’s Manchester bands. “We were an unlikely combination, and that seemed like reason enough to try it,” Nordwind explains. After a mutual friend introduced the pair via email, a dialogue started and a fast friendship was forged…the musical ideas began to flow back and forth via email. “We didn’t have any specific goal, we just started writing and these songs emerged,” elaborates Smith.
Feeding off each other’s energy, productive beat maker Nordwind and thoughtful lyricist Smith wrote a handful of songs before they ever met in-person. Over time, PYYRAMIDS’ sound began to emerge, favoring stripped back instruments mixed with electronic elements and layered with Smith’s laid-back soulful vocal delivery to produce a mystical, intimate sound. Critics have said of Smith’s crooning it’s as if “Billie Holiday grew up listening to The Smiths.” “I’ve never really heard indie music with a voice like that,” Nordwind explains. “It adds three-dimensionality to the moods, beats and chords.”
Mixed by Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT), and Dan Konopka of OK Go, Brightest Darkest Day (available now at http://pyyramids.com/bdd) finds PYYRAMIDS venturing into fresh territory. Experimenting with sonic landscapes on the album’s title track, Nordwind takes a hypnotic drum loop and adds icy synths, a bass-line that bubbles up from the depths, and haunting strings, all adding up to something that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Gorillaz record. This is a darker vision of pop that intersects at the drugged-out clubs at 2 am and the hidden alleyways of the imagination.
Indie duo Pyyramids--comprised of OK Go's Tim Nordwind and He Say She Say's Drea Smith--released another video from last year's EP, Human Beings. Whil...
Tweet Pyyramids showcased that they're just fine with confusing the hell out of us when they released the video for catchy-but-dark single "That Ain't...
