Drowse is the musical project of American musician and producer Kyle Bates. Based in

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, Bates founded the project in 2013 and released the debut album, ''Soon Asleep'', in 2015. Bates collaborates with other musicians during his

home recording Home recording is the practice of recording sound in a private home instead of a professional recording studio. A studio set up for home recording is called a home studio or project studio. Home recording is widely practiced by voice actors, narra ...

s and live shows and creates interrelated

audiovisual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service provide ...

and installation artwork and writings under his own name.

History

Before forming Drowse, Bates played in local bands and recorded music on his laptop. In 2011 Bates experienced a dissociative mental breakdown that would inform the first few Drowse releases. In 2013 he released an EP, ''Songs to Sleep On'' through Television Records and began performing live with help from various Portland musicians. Drowse released its debut album ''Soon Asleep'' through Apneic Void Sounds in 2015. The album featured Portland based singer Tuesday Faust. Following the release of ''Soon Asleep'', Drowse recorded music that was contributed to Miserable's 2016 album, ''Uncontrollable''. In 2016 Drowse released an EP titled ''Memory Bed'' through

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

based label The Native Sound. ''Memory Bed'' featured vocal and lyrical collaborations with Maya Stoner. Drowse signed to

The Flenser The Flenser (also known as Flenser Records) is an American record label founded by Jonathan Tuite in 2009 in San Francisco, California. It describes itself as a "dark music" label or a "dark experimental record label". Bands that work with or ha ...

to release sophomore album ''Cold Air'' in 2018. Directly after the release Bates became an artist in residence in Skagaströnd, Iceland, resulting in new work including ''Fog Storm pts. 1-4'', released as a split with

Planning For Burial Planning for Burial is the musical project of American musician and singer-songwriter Thom Wasluck. Based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wasluck started to perform as "Burial" in 2005 and released the debut album, ''Leaving'' in 2009. Wasluck pl ...

. ''Light Mirror'', Drowse's second album for

, was released in 2019–it features material recorded in Iceland and at home. Later that year Drowse released the mini-LP, ''Second Self'', in collaboration with Lane Shi Otayonii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Otay:onii) as an exclusive work for

's label subscription series. Drowse's final release of 2019 was a split with Amulets put out by Whited Sepulchre Records, it featured sounds recorded at the same time as material for ''Light Mirror''. In 2020 Drowse contributed the

acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French , is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary pupils of the phi ...

piece "Screen (Hyperreal)" to the multimedia collection ''Medicine for a Nightmare: Part One.'' Bates then composed and recorded a new audiovisual work, ''Failing Memory Theatre (Prologue)'', which features repurposed sounds sourced from throughout the Drowse's discography as well as versions of forthcoming material for an upcoming, as-yet-untitled, full length–''Failing Memory Theatre (Prologue)'' was created for and premiered at

Roadburn The Roadburn Festival is an annual music festival held each April in Tilburg, Netherlands. It was founded by Walter Hoeijmakers and Jurgen van den Brand in 1999, who ran a stoner rock blog of the same name. The festival has been held at Tilburg ...

Redux in 2021. In July 2021 the project released ''Room Impression'' as part of Glowing Window Recordings' ''Cold Fronts'', a cohesive album length collection of works by Drowse,

Planning for Burial Planning for Burial is the musical project of American musician and singer-songwriter Thom Wasluck. Based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Wasluck started to perform as "Burial" in 2005 and released the debut album, ''Leaving'' in 2009. Wasluck pl ...

, Jonathan Tuite (

), and Bryan Manning (

Bosse-de-Nage Bosse-de-Nage is an American band from San Francisco, California, United States, composed of four anonymous members. Considered a part of the blackgaze scene, the band performs an experimental black metal style that draws from post-rock, shoegaz ...

). ''Wane into It'', the project's third proper full length for

, was self-recorded in Oakland, Portland, and LA from 2019 to 2022. It was released on November 11, 2022. Drowse has shared the stage with a wide range of musical acts, including

and King Woman.

Musical style

Pitchfork summed up the project's sound as "blending slowcore, ambient, and folk with lo-fi musings on memory and entropy, art ofa grand tradition of Pacific Northwestern gloom." Drowse derives influence from multiple genres and has been also been labeled "drone-pop", "shoegaze/drone", and "dream pop."

Vice A vice is a practice, behaviour, Habit (psychology), habit or item generally considered morally wrong in the associated society. In more minor usage, vice can refer to a fault, a negative character trait, a defect, an infirmity, or a bad or unhe ...

described the project's sound as "the aural equivalent of blood rushing back to a sleeping limb" and likened it to a "post-

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with tr ...

take on" English

shoegazing Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volum ...

band

Slowdive Slowdive (stylized in lowercase) are an English people, English rock band that formed in Reading, Berkshire, in 1989. The band consists of Neil Halstead (vocals, guitars), Rachel Goswell (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Christian Savill (guitars) ...

and

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

post-rock Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...

band Explosions in the Sky.

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

writer Matt Malone noted that "Drowse prioritizes music over lyrics, using vocals not to tell a story as much as add an instrumental layer to the music's soothing fog."

A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

critic Brian Shultz characterized the project's sound as "breathy, entrancing, and certainly a little bit eerie." Cris Lankenau, writing for

Willamette Week ''Willamette Week'' (''WW'') is an alternative weekly newspaper and a website published in Portland, Oregon, United States, since 1974. It features reports on local news, politics, sports, business, and culture. History Early history '' ...

, compared Drowse to other Pacific Northwest musical acts

Mount Eerie Mount Eerie is the musical project of American songwriter and producer Phil Elverum. Elverum (also of the Microphones) is the principal member of the band, but has collaborated with many other musicians on his records and in live performances. ...

and

Grouper Groupers are a diverse group of marine ray-finned fish in the family Epinephelidae, in the order Perciformes. Groupers were long considered a subfamily of the seabasses in Serranidae, but are now treated as distinct. Not all members of this f ...

. Lars Gotrich from

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

reinforced the comparison, saying "Drowse ..sounds like an intimate

home recording overdubbed with a worn-out cassette of

The Cure The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Crawley in 1976 by Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) and Lol Tolhurst (drums). The band's current line-up comprises Smith, Perry Bamonte (guitar and keyboards), Reev ...

's ''Disintegration''."

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Soon Asleep'' (2015; Apneic Void Sounds) * ''Cold Air'' (2018;

) *''Light Mirror'' (2019; The Flenser) *''Wane into It'' (2022; The Flenser)

Mini-LPs, EPs, split releases, compilations, commissions

*''Songs to Sleep On'' EP (2013; Television Records) * ''Memory Bed'' EP (2016; The Native Sound) *''Fog Storm pts. 1-4'' Split w/

(2018; Glowing Window Recordings) *''Second Self'' Mini-LP (2019;

) *''Drowse / Amulets'' Split w/ Amulets (2019; Whited Sepulchre Records) *"Screen (Hyperreal)"

Acousmatic Acousmatic sound is sound that is heard without an originating cause being seen. The word ''acousmatic'', from the French , is derived from the Greek word ''akousmatikoi'' (ἀκουσματικοί), which referred to probationary pupils of the phi ...

Piece (2020; commissioned for ''Medicine for a Nightmare: Part One'') *''Failing Memory Theatre (Prologue)'' Audiovisual Work (2021; commissioned for Roadburn Redux) *''Cold Fronts'' LP/Collection w/

, Bryan Manning (

), Jonathan Tuite (The Flenser) (2021; Glowing Window Recordings)

Other releases

* ''Naive Sleep'' (2014; self-released) * ''Covered'' (2015; self-released) * ''Send the Pain Below'' (2021; covers compilation released by The Flenser)

As Kyle Bates

* ''A Matinee by Lula Asplund and Kyle Bates'' (2023; Whited Sepulchre Records)

Videos

* "Melt" (2015; dir. Ayers) * "Break" (2016; dir. Bates, Stoner) * "Memory" (2016; dir. Bates, Stoner) * "Klonopin" (2018; dir. Bates, Stoner) *"Bipolar 1" (2019; dir. Bates) *"Failing Memory Theatre (Prologue)" (2021; dir. Bates) *"Untrue in Headphones" (2022; dir. Bates)

References

External links

Official website

Drowse
on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Drowse
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

Drowse
on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

Drowse
on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drowse Musical groups from Portland, Oregon American shoegaze musical groups Musical groups established in 2013 American dream pop musical groups American ambient music groups One-man bands Slowcore groups Rock music groups from Oregon 2013 establishments in Oregon