Blackout Transmission
Silo Halo | 2
Etxe Records & Productions | 7

Silo Halo’s second release, the EP “Blackout Transmission” presents a body of music whose narrative traverses through landscapes against a backdrop that shifts from late daylight into dusk, night, and pre-dawn. This compact four-song set sees primary songwriters Christopher Goett (bass guitar, guitar, voice) and Greg Svitil (bass guitar, guitar, organ, piano, voice) addressing themes of empowerment, nostalgia, and personal and communal assertion, with drummer Nathan Jurgenson providing a graceful rhythmic backdrop. This cohesive work covers a broad range of sonic and thematic ground in just half an hour. 
credits

Credits

Released April 22, 2014

Christopher Goett bass guitar, guitar, voice
Nathan Jurgenson drums and percussion
Greg Svitil bass guitar, guitar, organ, piano, voice

‘Blackout Transmission’ additional voices by Jon Glover, Caitlin Ollinger, Steve Rubin, and Greg Svitil

Words and music for ‘Blackout Transmission’ and ‘Urban Canyons & Beginnings’ by Christopher Goett

Words and music for ‘Rosalind’ and ‘Pinhole Camera’ by Greg Svitil
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REVIEWS: 

I WAS A TEENAGE SHOEGAZER: "Noise-pop merchants Silo Halo create electrically charged songs. . . the featured track is the title track Blackout Transmission, which to the untrained English ear are very reminiscent of Sister era Sonic Youth. . . the other songs on the EP explore different styles, but they tend to show the bands more sensitive side. With dreamy melodies and delicate guitars. Pinhole Camera reminds me of The High’s Somewhere Soon, fragile beginnings that build up stirring finale." 

INFORTY: "Silo Halo cover a lot of ground in just under half an hour over 4 songs, turning their noisy, moody, sophisticated post-punk into a highly refined form of art. Powerful, dreamy and with an underlying flow of melody, the EP weaves organs and pianos into a sonic mix of tense beauty. If Hoover never broke up, we would hope they sounded like this today." 

DC ROCK LIVE: "The key is that these are songs with a strong personality and not just exercises in attractive noise. There is attractive noise, particularly on "Rosalind", but it is a pleasurable coda on top of a moving song. The title cut is particularly moving with its melding of Tuxedomoon and Sonic Youth moves. This band establishes a mood around their songs and finds intriguing ways to work their guitars and keyboards around the melodies with a solid drum beat underneath." 

WASHINGTON CITY PAPER: "Silo Halo...is adept at creating a lonesome rumble. The four songs on Blackout Transmission, Silo Halo's second release on Etxe Records, all expand past the five-minute mark, and they're all studies in the interplay between warehouse-sized reverb, Nathan Jurgenson's ever-active drumming, and dryly melodic human utterances from bassists/guitarists Greg Svitil and Christopher Goett (the label's co-owner)...Very little on Blackout Transmission is delicate, but there is vulnerability underneath it all. Even the sudden percussive breakdown during the title track feels like it's probing an uncertain future." 

DISTRICT BEAT: "Blackout Transmission is vaster, grander...joined by a wistful edge that wanders through the songs, from the relentless title track to the dreamier “Urban Canyons & Beginnings.” At times, the record has a post-rock feel; at others, it’s unabashed avant-garde noise. Silo Halo slips effortlessly through dusk to dawn, speared onwards by a search for something lost. Listening to Blackout Transmission is returning to streets you used to walk every day until it hit you, suddenly, that you hadn’t been there in years. Even as it drives forward, the record demands an acknowledgement of what once was and, in turn, the full story of a place, lingering in the air as the sun rises." 

NEW NOISE MAGAZINE: "4.5 out of 5 Stars!"