photo from Pool of the Black Star release show by Simone Maura

KillDry

KillDry is the dark ambient electric guitar duo of Nicholas Deyoe and Jay Sorce. In the Spring of 2021, utilizing low-latency networking software Nicholas in Los Angeles and Jay in New York began to play together in real time. After recording their first few sessions, they realized they’d stumbled on to something that felt very special to both and has become a creative focus in the time since.

The name KillDry is taken from the term as it is used in effects pedal jargon, when the dry signal (the unprocessed guitar sound) is removed completely leaving only the ‘wet’ sounds - the cavernous ambience of a reverb or the warbled disembodied sound of a modulated delay. In KillDry, the pedalboard becomes a fully realized musical instrument, expressively manipulated in real-time. By carefully routing the guitar signal, often in several parallel effects chains, the sound captured, refracted, manipulated, deconstructed; the effect is like a moving sculpture, with the guitar sound as the tactile raw material.

Our most recent release, Pool of the Black Star is a four-track double LP of slowly-developing dark ambient guitar-driven landscapes. Using guitar pedals, bows, preparations, and non-traditional guitar construction and techniques, KillDry creates an otherworldly sonic space that often bares little resemblance to “guitar music.” Pool of the Black Star combines droning landscapes with ethereal textures and unexpected melodies by layering, looping, and manipulating what is available on their pedalboards and by reconsidering the personal approach to their instruments.

Using techniques to direct the oxidation of metal, Adam Rowe created the images used in the Pool of the Black Star album art while listening to the music. Chaos within well-defined boundaries as well as man-made complexity shining through grit and corrosion made sense to me as a description of the composition and how he approached an accompanying visual component.

Pool of the Black Star was recorded by KillDry in Los Angeles and New York in May and June, 2021. Mixed by Nicholas Deyoe and Mastered by Daniel Eaton at Little Castle Mastering