Eugene isn’t shy about its hippie culture, and it wouldn’t do much good if it were; with events like the Saturday Market and the staggering number of jam bands that come to stages throughout the city every year, this aspect of Eugene isn’t easily hidden. Drums are more often associated with circles than machines, and you are more likely to hear the syllable “synth” as part of a tirade against synthetic fibers than alongside talk of modulation and waveforms.
Eugene has acoustic roots, and it can be hard for a group as decidedly electronic as the Fast Computers to flourish in such a clime. The group, which plays a delicately layered brand of pop music, came from Chicago to Eugene in search of open minds and a distinguished place in the city’s small electronic scene.
The band began as a two-piece, with Peter Dean on electric piano and Jennifer Fox on drums, eventually adding two members as its sound outgrew its format. Dean spoke about this pursuit of the perfect Fast Computers sound as a building process, with the band adding elements and experimenting with electronics to achieve a larger sound without a larger band.
“It started very basic; I always wanted to be bigger and more polished, but to keep a focus on what we’re trying to do,” Dean said, emphasizing the Fast Computers’ ideals of staying focused and constructing songs and records around a central idea.
The result takes the shape of “Heart Geometry,” the Fast Computers’ debut full-length, due out in the Northwest on June 7, with a national release set for September. “Heart Geometry” sees the Fast Computers closing in on that elusive “right” feeling, adding a whole new dimension to the sound heard on their first EP, “SP.”
Dean said this evolution is related to a conscious change in his songwriting style, which has diverged from his natural tendency to hear empty space in songs and find something to fill it. The decision to alter his approach to songwriting came at the advice of guitar player and vocalist Pat Kearns, who suggested Dean break his habit while the two were recording together for Kearns’ band, Portland’s Blue Skies for Black Hearts.
“(Kearns) sort of said, ‘Do the opposite.’ You know, emphasize the positive space; don’t build the negative space,” Dean said.
Dean also noted the influence of bands like Spritualized and Sigur Rós on his writing style, saying he tries to incorporate their larger sound into the Fast Computers’ pop style. The challenge, according to Dean, is delivering a big sound with a small band. The Fast Computers addressed this challenge by using sequencing and other electronic elements live, and by adding members over the years.
“We were a three-piece, but now that we’re a four-piece and we have Brenna (Sheridan) playing synthesizers, that can add a lot. She can fill in a lot of space,” Dean said.
Aside from these tangible factors, Dean attributes the Fast Computers’ improvement in the live arena to the way the band works as a unit, saying, “I feel really confident in the band right now, so that makes it so much easier on stage. You just feel comfortable and just really get into it, do your thing.”
The Fast Computers will be doing its thing alongside fellow local electronic act DoublePlusGood and San Francisco’s Social Studies this Friday at Luckey’s Club Cigar Store.