There’s no moss on Lethbridge based dream pop/ indie rock band the Silkstones, who have released three albums in three years since forming in 2014 including their latest CD “ The World Began With A Yes.”

“We like to keep challenging ourselves,” said frontman Ryan Phillips who instantly connected with songwriting partner guitarist/ songwriter Dylan Wagner shortly after he finished recording the first Silkstones album and was opening for Wagner‘s band the Delawares, which broke up shortly after.

The Silkstones are completed by guitarist Joel Gray, fiddle player/ harmony vocalist Megan Brown, drummer Skylar Bjorn and bassist Ryan Klassen.
 The new CD, released on July 14, has already has spawned two singles.

There are videos for “I Should Have Known” and “It Tells Me More (Then You Tell Me).” Their CDs are CD on Spotify and Bandcamp.

“I wrote the first CD on my own in my bedroom and Dylan joined shortly after that,” said Ryan Phillips, noting they found an instant musical connection as soon as they met.
“I was in a band called the Delawares and when they broke up, nobody was asking me to jam out or anything,” added Wagner,  as the duo arrives from an early morning, on air interview with The Bridge, 98.1, morning show, which has embraced the Silkstones’ music.

“Some of my ideas are really out there, but Ryan really brings them down to Earth,” Wagner said noting they work well off of each other.
“ I’ve been playing  guitar for seven or eight years and keep learning. We didn’t take any music  lessons. I learned by learning songs,” he said.
“And I learned a lot from him,” Phillips said.

“Some people will add parts to a song and you ask why is that there. So it is nice to have a partner who just gets it,” Phillips added, noting the band is very proud of the new CD. Phillips was  originally planning to go to the United Kingdom, but wanted to release a CD before he did. When that plan got cancelled, they released the CD anyway.

 

“ We like playing live, but we come alive in the studio,” Wagner said.
“You have infinite possibilities in the studio, but at some point, you just have to say that’s it,” Wagner continued, noting the band wrote half of the songs  in the studio and had the bones of the other half before recording.
“Basically the songs are dreamy, but melancholy, but intense,” Wagner described.

“Lyrically there is a theme of existence and living life. It is about being positive and about how things will get better,” Phillips added.
Wagner noted he loves having the new members.

“I hear all of these sounds in my head so I love to have people like Megan Brown when I hear a violin part. It gives a us a bigger palette to work with,” Wagner said.
“ And there’s not a vocal take I would want to remove,” Phillips added.

The band, while born in Lethbridge, now has members scattered all over Alberta, with Phillips living in  Calgary and drummer Skylar Bjorn living in Edmonton.
“So we’re really an Alberta band now, ” said Phillips, noting the band still meets every week to jam.
 They have played all over Alberta, Saskatchewan and B.C. They aren’t playing very often in Lethbridge.

“We don’t want to play too often in Lethbridge,we don’t want people to get sick of us,“ Wagner said, noting they are focusing on conquering the Edmonton market, then hopefully Vancouver.
 The new Cd has received excellent response including reviews in Beatroute Magazine and in a couple other places.

“ We’re actually sold out of CDs,” Phillips said, adding they are going to make more.

“ But we‘re already working on the next album. We have about eight songs, or things that will become songs,” Wagner observed.
He noted their next Lethbridge date will be in September, for the Cheeky Pig competition in September.