My Darling Boy

By Sjimon Gompers »

Ladies and gentlemen, I am happy to announce great things are happening in the Northwest territory. Oregon's prolific, yet elusive singer/songwriter/composer Sylous Gunther returns from obscurity with My Darling Boy.

A character of Gatsbian fashion, Sylous spent recent years collaborating with various musicians and teaching music full time, all the while longing to heed his call of pop iconography. Portlanders might remember his stint in a Suede cover band, under the affectionate moniker of Swayed, in the early millennium. My Darling Boy was the title of a solo outing consisting of Sylous and his darling guitar. Yet, strange fates of Craigslist ad connections led to meeting Guitarist Chris Moncrieffe and bassist Peter Saturday. The trio attended a Trashcan Sinatras show, which somehow led to the decision to form a band.

Sylous on the formation of My Darling Boy:

"Basically the band members united after many years of trying to get together, years of searching even. The night of a Trashcan Sinatras show we decided to write music together. There is a reason we use the verb 'play' in regards to music. It should be play. It should be fun. Those processes can be haunting, emotional and truthful. Which could cause nosebleeds due to the content, but ultimately fun is what we are finally having playing these songs."

Lauded as a genius by the Portland presses, possessing a couple of college degrees and multiple talents; Sylous exhibited an attitude of grandeur and gratitude to be working with fellow talented band members. “I have been an elusive singer/songwriter in Portland since 1999, but have not pursued anything seriously as I am often in my own way," he said. "However now with players, and a collaborative atmosphere, we have challenged each other to get out of our way."

Chris and Peter come from a variety of backgrounds. A Portland native, Chris has been in Princess Ugly, Robinson Moncrieffe and Dorian Crush, shaping the vocals and shiny guitar sounds of each respective act. Peter has been in the Wisconsin power-punk group Ben Grim, the sadly split up Portland power-pop group Jennifer Echo and his surprisingly infectious nerd-core reggae project, Mister Saturday.

Sylous on his bandmate's musical contributions:

"I just wanted to tell you that (Peter) would not take the credit, but I am giving it to him. Although our guitarist is a prolific and talented songwriter, Peter is the one who came up with more than half the ideas for these songs. He is essentially the one who wrote most of them, then Chris put his greatness to them. I am mostly in charge of lyrics and melodies, as in the past I had to do them all. But this is a true collaboration where we all employ each others' strengths."

On his approach to songwriting:

“I am often interested in the way modern relationships function or reach for some semblance of what healthy could be. It seems now that is acceptable to have hurt and to show each other the bruises. The comparing of which seems to make people hold each other closer and tightly. Additionally, I am pretty obsessed with aberrant behavior, but where familiarity can be found. People find other persons for reasons known or unknown and how they assign value to those things or latch onto them is what makes it incredibly fascinating. Tool kits are so divergence, textural and nuance, and require that exploration. There is love to be had in the most disgusting places, in the most inopportune moments and is not often aware of self. In the lyrics I speak of all things ranging from post apocalyptic scenarios, domestic abuse and superlatively dark places that people do not want to talk about but have experienced, I suspect on some level. Within those places we seek love with fury and should never leave.”

My Darling Boy's first demo should be available online in the coming weeks on its Myspace page.

My Darling Boy, "Against You Everything Shall Be Measured"

My Darling Boy, "Heart Sleeping Star"

Posted on March 16, 2010. More on: sylous gunther, my darling boy, portland