EASE DOWN THE ROAD

“I’m totally flipping out,” wrote area artist/musician Nate Utesch in a recent e-mail that hit the my inbox stockpiled with a week’s worth of exclamation points. “We just found out that we’re booking a show with one of our all-time heroes, a duo called Lymbyc Systym.”

The “we” Utesch speaks of is Metavri, a Fort Wayne-based instrumental band - consisting of members Tommy Cutter, Utesch, Ty Brinneman, Simon Lesser and Andrew MeComas - who thrive on all things creative, vintage and obscure. But, hey, you’ve probably heard of them.

Lymbyc Systym, similarly, play a style of post-ambient instrumental music that feels more so constructed than played. Wait a second, post-ambient? Sweeping movements, swaying melodies and, contrary to the gut of pure ambient music, notes played on guitar and - in most cases - vintage keyboards. Blips and chops. Music made to drift into the listener’s consciousness while, unlike pure ambient music, maintaining a melodic backbone. Blips, everywhere blips.

Recently relocated to Austin, Texas by way of Temple, Arizona, Lymbyc Systym’s expansive soundtracks are the work of just two men, brothers Mike and Jared Bell. Mike plays a range of instruments when performing live, including drums, xylophone and, as Utesch puts it, “the ol’ laptop.” For those of you who thought music officially ended when Brian Eno first started producing what he called “ambient records,” yes, a laptop computer can be considered an instrument these days. Loaded with samples, loops, pre-programmed ambience and other elements far above this In a Silent Way-loving writer’s head, laptops are an essential element to bands who work in the wide range of ambient genres, offering their users a way to translate heavily produced albums to live settings. (For the sake of clarity, In a Silent Way is a minimalist jazz album Miles Davis recorded in 1968 that is sometimes considered to be an ambient recording.)

Back to those brothers. Jared plays a number of vintage keyed instruments, including a Fender Rhodes, a Wurlitzer, a micro-Korg and others. “Jared is constantly looping and swapping melodies, keeping the song alive while Mike wails away,” explains Utesch when asked how this two-man band plan to bring to life such elaborate and sophisticated compositions. “The songs are accompanied by programming and beats.”

Inspired by the music of Tortoise, Four Tet and other composition-minded bands from the late-90s, the brothers Bell started working out their sound in 2001, soon enough releasing an EP, Carved by Glaciers, and eventually a full-length, Love Your Abuser, last year on Mush Records, the latter of which earned them quite a bit of national attention. Love Your Abuser Remixed, the reason the brothers are currently on tour, was recently released to glowing reviews, The Austin Chronicle calling it “a scrambled and cinematic sprawl of laptop post-rock.”

Confused yet? Have you ever heard Can’s classic Future Days album? Scrap the vocals on that album, modernize the production, swap the guitars with vintage keys and throw in some blips and you’ll have an idea. Still lost? Think The Album Leaf. Sigur Ros. Mum. Eluvium. Our own All Nite Skate and, duh, Metavari. Even early-90s Moby, sans the million-dollar samples and club-ready tendencies. Soundtracks for indie rock ears fueled by energy drinks and daydreams of an Enya-less world.

“I saw them two years ago supporting an Album Leaf tour,” explained Utesch when asked about the still-budding band’s level of national exposure. “Their sound definitely falls somewhere between bands like The Album Leaf or Mum with the vintage keyboards and beats - and also bands like Tortoise or Four Tet, who both experiment with sample-based percussion. I know they also toured with Mice Parade. I’m not too familiar with Mice Parade, but I know they’re on Fat Cat records with Sigur Ros, Mum, Animal Collective and Panda Bear, so they can’t be that bad.”

With Tortoise’s steam running thin and LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy forever preaching the word of ambient groundbreakers like Tangerine Dream, Can, Neu! and Brian Eno, it seems like only a matter of time before Lymbyc Systym start getting name checked alongside the likes of Four Tet, Mum and even Caribou (fka Manitoba), any of which regularly sell out shows and release some of the best reviewed albums you’ll find.

“They are totally taking a chance with squeezing in a show in a Fort Wayne show between their ‘real’ tour dates,” said Utesch in closing. “We’ve been pursuing these guys since we saw them [at South by Southwest] last month and gushing over them for much longer than that.”