Treiops Treyfid

Reach the Explosion! (Deep Reverb)
by Aaron Lazenby

Treiops Treyfid was in a band I’ve never heard of (Pitchblende), but has a lot of friends in bands I have heard of (Tsunami, Delta 72, Air Miami, New Wet Kojak), so he must not be all that bad. Right? Well, on his solo debut, Reach the Explosion!, Treyfid’s efforts seem to be only as good as those he surrounds himself with.

Beyond being an all-star roundup of the D.C./Arlington indie scene, Reach the Explosion! is a collection of bright and quirky pop with a clear nod to new-wave. With a Jad Fair meets Stan Ridgway voice, Treyfid proclaims his oblique lyrics like a geeky dictator. But his nasal warbling fits quite well over the music’s fairly interesting pop structures filled with left turns and curveballs. Treyfid’s tightly-wound guitar sound cascades from the top of the songs while his phalanx of guest drummers do a great job of keeping the songs moving forward.

Any time Treyfid teams up New Wet Kojak bassist Charles Bennington, great music ensues. “Sonic Boom,” the album’s best track, features Bennington’s full arsenal of sexy basslines mixed with well-arranged synths a-chirping. “Chemical Wheel” not only has the Bennington bass touch, but also enlists his synthesizer skills to great effect. Other guests help polish up the chrome on Reach the Explosion! The slinky cello of Tsunami’s Amy Domingues blesses “I Have Learned” with a sinister creep, setting off lyrics like “We got naked/in a child’s bed” with the right amount of discomfort. Sarah Silfer’s ethereal backing vocals turn up here and there and add a nice contrast to Treyfid’s whine. Ben Azzara’s drumming on “Magnet Power” keeps up beautifully with the massive changes in the song, altering his role to keep the song together when the guitar and bass frolic, and kicking ass when the heavy riffing kicks in.

But the elements don’t always add up, and attempts at over-clever indie rock pretension abound. “Go For the Omni” is a grating bore of a song. I can almost hear the annoying conversations that prompted the writing of “Bank Clock Controls the Weather” and “Goat in the Ether.” And even when the songs aren’t outright irritating, they can be simply boring. Overall, Reach the Explosion! is a mixed bag with some very bright spots. If Treyfid stuck with his best partners, or took complete control and booted all of his associates, he may have had a better record.
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