Denver-based alternative/dream-pop band Oxeye Daisy has announced the addition of their fifth member, Stephen Pamas, who will be joining the group on synthesizer and guitar. Pamas will play his debut show with Oxeye Daisy November 10th at the Magic Rat in Fort Collins, Colorado.
“Stephen is just an incredible guitar player, he has that feel where he can draw so much out of one note,” said Eddie Schmid, the band’s bassist.
Pamas is known around the Front Range music scene as the frontman for the indie group Hello, Mountain. Oxeye Daisy played some of its earliest shows with Hello, Mountain at Denver’s Lions Lair, and the two bands shared a mutual admiration.
The band is working on new material for a follow-up release to their 2018 self-titled debut, which was called one of the “best Colorado albums of the year so far” by Colorado Public Radio. The band says the new material is headed in a synth-pop direction, with Pamas adding new textures and harmonies to their palette. The band plans to debut new material at the Fort Collins show.
“Earlier this year we were at practice and [lead guitarist] Danny brought his synths for the first time,” said Lela Roy, the band’s lead singer and guitarist. “We loved so much how it filled out the sound. And I remember asking ‘So are we a synth-pop band now?’ And we all kind of nodded in agreement, like we knew this was the next step for us.”
Schmid also praised Pamas’s ability to “breathe life into” their older material.
“So many of Lela’s songs are big and dynamic and are just begging for a gut punch of more texture and weirder sounds to accentuate the highs and lows,” Schmid added. “Everything is just feeling more full. That said, we’re trying to be careful not to get drunk with power and overdo it.”
In addition to workshopping new material, the band has plans for a short EP. The release will feature completed songs that didn’t make their debut album. The songs are being recorded now, with a release date to be announced in the coming months.
UPCOMING SHOWS:
11/10/2018 in Fort Collins, CO at Magic Rat with Spirettes
12/28/2018 in Denver, CO at Syntax Physic Opera with The Still Tide + special guests TBA