I've been listening to LOW ROAR's new singles a lot in the past few months and it's taken me this long to look deep enough into the band to find out that the man behind it all, Ryan Karazija, was the frontman of Oakland, CA's now defunct indie rock band Audrye Sessions. I saw them about 5 years ago in St. Petersburg, FL opening up for Manchester Orchestra with then-overlooked Fun and was really impressed by the band's eerie explosiveness, Ryan Karazija's soaring falsetto, and the way he played the guitar with a cello bow. While Audrye Sessions reminded me of Radiohead's energetic rock songs, LOW ROAR seems to derive influence from their slower, more expansive tracks, creating a dreamy brand of ambient electronic music with orchestral and post-rock elements.
I suppose when I saw that LOW ROAR was a band from Reykjavík, Iceland I simply deduced that its members must also be Icelandic, which was partly correct. Apart from California-native Karazija (pictured above in the center), there are two members from Iceland, and listed as a member on their Facebook page, but not pictured above, is American Grammy-winning producer Andrew Scheps, who contributed keys and programming on LOW ROAR's 2011 self-titled debut album, so it's safe to say he plays a similar role on their upcoming sophomore release entitled 0 (yes, that's a zero).
Moving to Iceland after the dissolution of his previous band, Karazija hoped to find inspiration similar to that of which most Icelandic musicians seem to feed off on the majestic Nordic island, and I'd say he's found it. Its awe-inspiring landscapes have made their way into LOW ROAR's vastly beautiful arrangements enough to have comparisons be drawn to Icelandic post-rock giants, Sigur Rós. Apparently, you don't have to be from Iceland to sound like you're from Iceland; you just have to live there.
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