Video for " Fifty-One "
Terrene started as the solo project of John Dylan. Recording, distributing, and performing everything himself, Dylan built a small empire around his unique style of music. Keeping expectations at bay, Terrene's music can be as tetra-aural and cacophonous as Sonic Youth, as ethereal and haunting as Sigur Ros and Godspeed You Black Emperor!, and as folksy and pop-savvy as Sufjan Stevens and Built to Spill.
While working as a solo artist in the late nineties, Spin magazine dubbed Dylan's "Fifty-One" to be the "Cool Track of the Day" due to the widespread internet distribution of the song. Canadian production company, Propaganda Culture, then commissioned Dylan to create the theme song for their self-titled TV Show and also contribute a track to the soundtrack for their film, Parasidium, shooting a tie-in video (which Dylan directed). Fans launched a fan site cataloging all the songs and interviews Dylan gave while a college radio program did a 30-minute documentary on his do-it-all-yourself project.
Overwhelmed at having accomplished so much by doing relatively little -- and all by himself -- Dylan formed Terrene in 2003 to pursue his music more seriously. That December, Terrene completed a 4-song demo with longtime friend Bobby Nath of noted Seattle band Mars Accelerator, whose production credentials include Kinski (Sub Pop), Transitional (Pehr), Welcome (RXRemedy), and Mars themselves.
The demo landed pieces on Terrene in the magazines Magnaphone ( Philadelphia), The Stranger (Seattle), The Tablet (Seattle), and UW Daily (Seattle). It also secured shows for Terrene at all of Seattle's major venues, as well as opening spots for Of Montreal. Gaining steam, they were awarded a full-length broadcast of a Terrene set with the the purveyor of talent, KEXP.
In 2004, wanting to record a full length, Terrene sent the demo to producer Phil Ek (Built To Spill, The Shins, Modest Mouse). Blown away, Ek came on board to record Terrene's first album titled The Indifferent Universe. Initially recorded at Jupiter and AVAST! Studios with Ek at the helm, Dylan continued expanding and refining the sounds on the record -- a process that took over two years to complete. Resulting in a 42-minute mini-epic, the record captures Terrene's stormy instrumentation as a huge wall of overdubs.
Slated for a July 2007 release on Wax Orchard, The Indifferent Universe, will be released as a dual-disc featuring a full-length live performance and a documentary featurette. Several videos are in production, with directors including famed avant-garde flash animator Mumbleboy, and feature directors, The Nee Brothers.
A North American tour is scheduled for the fall where Terrene and their laptop (which produces six different amp feeds) will deliver the atmospheric sound live as an immersive, sense-o-round experience.