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| Dan Smith and Christin Nelson of Listener |
Article By Madison Foster
While I was preparing for my interview with Listener I found a humorous piece of fan art spoofing the Marmite ad stating, “Either you love it or you hate it.” I found the particular drawing interesting because just like the yeasty British spread I could see how some people might love Listener while others dislike the band. Although I have yet to meet anyone who doesn't like Listener, if I do I will probably lose some respect for that person. In the end, love them or hate them, their own brand of music (the best way to describe it would be talk music) with Dan Smith's raw and powerful words over the purest form of rock music, achieved with drums, bass and guitar, is so unique and creative. Some might think that spoken word in music is basically hip-hop or rap but there does seem to be a difference. “With hip hop, you do a verse for awhile then there's a break for the chorus. There's a lot of patterns that you stay in,” explained Smith. “Vocally, for what we're doing, it could just be where ever it needs to go. Word wise, sometimes it could rhyme, sometimes it could not. Sometimes there are patterns, sometimes not. It's just spoken out.” Not wanting to be “avant gard” the band members say they like to stay away from genres as it allows them more freedom then what's expected from hip hop, poetry or rock.
