Oklahoma band Ester Drang to release long-awaited EP
By the time Tulsa-based post-rock band Ester Drang released 2006’s “Rocinate,” it was a fixture on revered independent record label Jade Tree and in clubs across the country, having toured with popular indie rock bands, including Pedro the Lion and American Analog Set. By then, the band had been together for 11 years and cemented for itself a modest and devout following.
With the band’s success came other opportunities for its members, and after touring a while after the release of “Rocinate,” everyone in Ester Drang quietly went their separate way, disseminating into other projects, including Sufjan Stevens, Native Lights and Unwed Sailor.
Ester Drang, for all intents and purposes, seemed done. So when original members Bryce Chambers and Kyle Winner returned with new bandmates to play an Ester Drang show in 2012, it was a surprise to a lot of hopeful fans. But they performed only a handful of times in the following few years and teased the idea of a new record that never materialized. Then, they got quiet again for the most part.
That is, until fall 2016. Ten years after the release of their last record, Ester Drang embarked on a nationwide tour as support for cult favorite English rock band Echo and the Bunnymen, the members of which apparently counted themselves among those hopeful Ester Drang fans. Chambers and Winner credit that tour invitation, which was extended again the following year, as the boost Ester Drang needed to find its bearings again.
“Hearing that from someone you really respect made us feel like hey, maybe what we’re doing is pretty good if these people are into it,” Chambers said. “Honestly, Oklahoma hasn’t been too supportive of this type of music in my personal experience,
and it was almost like, do they even really care at this point?”
“After a certain amount of time, we had this vulnerability, like, is this still relevant?” Winner said. “So we’ve come back with some scars, a little more maturity and more realistic expectations.”
Second coming
Not that external validation is the be-all, endall for a band in its 23rd year — if you don’t mind the gap. But it’s proven pivotal to moving Ester Drang forward in this, its second coming. Take Chris Stellman, a fan whose support of the band dates back to attending Drang’s first album release show in 1999. Stellman owns boutique OKC record label Clerestory AV and, upon seeing a bit of Ester Drang activity, reached out to Chambers about putting out an album.
In the silences, it turns out, Chambers had been writing and recording in his home studio space, with many songs already near completion. “The Appearances,” an EP of five new Ester Drang songs and one cover of a Starflyer 59 track, will be released Friday on colored vinyl, CD and digitally. It’s the first Ester Drang record in 12 years and, Chambers said, had been in the process on and off for the last five or six years. It includes contributions from Ester Drang’s current core lineup of Chambers (vocals, keys, guitar), Winner (bass), Hank Hanewinkel III (drums) and Tommy McKenzie (guitar), as well as former Drang member James McAlister and BRONCHO drummer Nathan Price.
“The Appearances” is a return to form, sort of, but it also has the band showing its age. The
expansive, loose structures of Ester Drang’s early albums are more locked-in. Where some of Ester Drang’s instrumentation in a past life felt like ambitious experimentation, here it sounds confident, purposeful.
Because of the mostly DIY recording, the record may be a little grittier than expected; listeners are awash in sound as much as they are able to pointedly listen, making it a good primer for seeing Ester Drang live.
The band will play an album release performance in Oklahoma City on Saturday as part of the ACM@UCO’s Metro Music Series, with future shows and future plans TBA.
“Obviously a lot of things have changed, but I feel like we still get to make music that we want to hear, which is important,” Winner said. “It definitely is about the art, as pretentious as that sounds.”
Chambers agreed. “I think that’s the thing that keeps you playing it. With this style of music, we’re not trying to be some huge thing. I think we’re just happy to play some music together after all these years.”