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.

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.

Music by KillDry (Nicholas Deyoe and Jay Sorce)
Recorded by Nicholas Deyoe and Jay Sorce in Los Angeles and New York in May and June, 2021

Mixed by Nicholas Deyoe
Mastered by Daniel Eaton at Little Castle Mastering

Artwork by Adam Rowe

ORENDA RECORDS 0099