Michael Dyer: Bio

About Michael Dyer and his music:

Michael Dyer has been writing songs, on and off, for over 30 years but had never arranged, performed, or produced his songs. Then, in 2007 he discovered Garageband software when he acquired a new Mac computer. Using this software, he began producing his backlog of songs (as time permitted. He has a full-time job as an educator and also a part-time hobby as a glass-blower.) The result is that he released 3 CDs in 2007 on CDBaby.com: Nothing Seems Like What It Seems (released Jan 31), Our Unwinding Time (Mar. 8) and Aboriginal Angel (Mar. 21). In 2008, also on CDBaby.com, he released two more CDs, titled: Compli-intricated Life and Butterfly's Release. In Nov. 2009 he released a CD containing 10 Christmas and 2 New Years-related songs. In July 2010 he released a soft-blues CD (Blues Souffle) containing 12 light-blues songs, an instrumental piece and one country song.

Some have described Michael Dyer’s earlier CDs as “mystical rock” with their dreamy mood, smooth vocals, and highly poetic lyrics. He is a singer/songwriter who is sole performer of all instruments and vocals on all tracks of each CD. He excels at guitar and keyboard and each song usually contains complex picking patterns, along with dual-lead guitars whose themes and riffs interweave. He also plays bass and as a result each song usually possesses both well-defined percussion and bass themes. His lyrics usually involve love and relationships but also may cover mystical themes, such as the search for enlightenment. His music is solidly within the folk-rock/soft-rock and AAC (alternative adult contemporary pop-rock) genres. Some of his songs also have a light blues quality to them. His recent CD (Blues Souffle) features harmonica.

Michael Dyer’s songs are often narrative in nature and his arrangements are often designed to be in service of that narrative. In one song, “Aboriginal Angel”, he dreams that he has rescued an aboriginal angel who is pursued by devils. Instead of playing a harp, this angel “…didn’t carry a harp. She found its sound too high and too sharp…” Instead, she played “… rock ‘n’ blues on two didgeridoos…”. When he awakens, he finds a real didgeridoo (that she has left for him). In that song, Michael Dyer plays the didgeridoo as a lead instrument, opposite his lead guitar.

In another song, “Our Unwinding Time,” he describes the feeling that his relationship with a woman is unwinding: “… like some suture unbinding. Our love is unfeeling, like a movie tape unreeling ...” As he describes how he feels (that time is starting to flow backwards), some of the music starts going backwards. Near the end, some of the lyrics are also in reverse (“unwinds time of reel our”). Michael has one other song with backwards music (“All Reversed” on Aboriginal Angel CD). In that song, as he feels more and more reversed, he sings: “… All the practiced are now unrehearsed. All the blessed are now so cursed. All those floating are now immersed. All the healthy must now be nursed...”

In the song “The Trek” (on Nothing Seems Like What It Seems CD), he searches for enlightenment in the mountains (“… Many days in lonely mountains, with a sun-trekked path and the only sounds in my head, of voices dead and companions lost, long ago ...”). The verses are enigmatic: “… Can the mystic nymph of laughter hold me back from the now and here-after? Can the priestess, with a subtle kiss, release me from this abyss? ...” On the Blues Souffle CD he has rearranged this song as a blues song, with a completely different melody but similar lyrics (retitled "Ghost-Trek Blues").

His song “Nothing Seems Like What It Seems” is mystical in nature, with verses such as: “… Alone, together, are the stars, too blind now to behold. All naked, we are covered, by the hopes we dare not hold. Remember, we’ve forgotten us, too deaf now to be told …”

Michael Dyer’s music, in each case, tends to be both complex and beautiful in its arrangement, with dual lead guitars, sophisticated finger picking, and strong bass themes all intermingling. A good example is “’Mid Moss-Covered Boulders” (on Our Unwinding Time CD), which is about a woman waiting for her warrior-lover to return from a distant battle.

There are songs that are mostly folk in nature. Examples of these are: “Coasting, The Crying Birds” (on Our Unwinding Time), “The Dawn Is Still” and “EarthSong” (both on Nothing Seems… CD). “EarthSong” could be used to represent any environmental movement, with its strong melody and lyrics: “… The Earth has had her users, who’ve done her so wrong. She’s had so many abusers, about them we sing this song, ‘cause when the time for chaos comes, they won’t belong. ‘Cause they’re taking our space away. ‘Cause they’re covering the light of day. ‘Cause they’ve sat in our rightful seat. Now they’re taking our last retreat. And I fear, She’s dying here, right beneath my feet …”

Some songs are Dylanesque; for example, “You Gotta Weep” (on Aboriginal Angel CD) has long, driving lyrics with rapid lead guitar riffs. Other songs are more emotional in nature, such as “Translucent” (on Nothing Seems … CD). Other songs have a hint of Santana (“So Imminent”) or blues (“Young Old Man”), but Michael Dyer’s overall musical style is that of an ethereal form of rock, without any grunge sound, and without the standard rock technique of a fast, droning note or beat, and without the standard pop “wall of sound” effect. The lack of these effects is refreshing.

Like many contemporary songwriters, many of Dyer’s songs are about love: finding it, losing it, seeking it, and the lyrics tend to be clever and poetic at the same time. For example, in “So Imminent” (Aboriginal Angel CD) he sings: “… I’m not trying just to rent your love, Not just borrow, then leave a dent in your love. Your love won’t get a single scratch or scrape. I won’t let it get all bent out of shape. It won’t need any patches or duct tape …”

The chord progressions and melody lines of many of his songs are more complex than most folk or rock songs, as are the arrangements. Dyer’s music will be highly welcome to anyone who has grown tired of listening to the more standard commercial folk, pop, or rock fare.

He states that, while he currently does not perform live, he would reconsider if his songs were to end up developing a wider listener-base.

Who Do I Sound Like? What I've Been Told:

“You have the same strong instrument arrangement, story-telling and musical variety of Guster.”

“Some of your songs are a lot like those of Elliot Smith but you have more instrumentation and that gives your songs a more rock feel where he has a more folk feel.”

“Your guitar picking and general approach reminds me of Devendra Banhart but you have excellent lead guitar and you don’t have his quavery voice.”

“You have a similar dreamy quality to David Gilmore but without his brass orchestration and his music tends to be slower and jazzier.”

“You have the same lyrical quality as David Gray but his voice is a bit gritty and yours is smoother.”

“You have a dreamy sound that reminds me of the Foo Fighters but with a lighter touch.”

“You remind me of Sondre Lerche but his music has many major 7ths in it, which gives is a jazzy sound but yours is more in the acoustic-rock arena.”

“Your love songs remind me a lot of Ben Lee, like his song ‘Gamble Everything on Love’. You have a similar vocal quality and same strong lyrics.”

“When Chris Martin of Coldplay plays in his baritone register (like in ‘Yellow’) then your voice might be somewhat similar to his.”

“You and Jack Johnson have many musical and vocal elements in common but most of his music has a blues/jazz quality to it, while your music has a more hippie quality.”

“You sound a bit like Radiohead (but they have these long vocal sustains that you don’t have).”

“Many of your songs have interesting chord progressions, like ‘I’ve Been High’ done by R.E.M.”

“You have a story-telling quality in your songs that reminds me of Death Cab For Cutie.”

“You know who you sound like? Yusuf. But his song themes seem more light-weight than yours.”

“You remind me of Rufus Wainwright. His music has a similar dreamlike quality but he mumbles when he sings and you don’t. Also his music has a more techno sound to it.”

“You have a similar clean vocal quality and lyrical approach as that of Ben Folds but his music is mostly piano while yours is mostly guitar. His voice is more tenor and yours is more baritone but there are many musical similarities.”

“I think you sound a lot like Ryan Adams but I think your lyrics and musical arrangements are a bit stronger.”

“Some of your songs remind me a bit of Snow Patrol. You both have good lyrics and harmonies.”

“You share vocal and poetic elements with Sufjan Stevens but he is more folksy and you’re more pop/rock. Also he uses banjo and more orchestration and you’re more into guitar. Rhythmically, you have different styles, but still I thought of him when listening to your music.”

“You sound a lot like Robbie Robertson.”

How I Produce My Songs

Some people have asked me how I produce my songs.

Well, I use GarageBand software on my Mac, which lets me record an instrument into the computer as I play it. I then listen to that instrument while I play another instrument (or sing). I usually start by selecting a simple drum beat (from synthesized drum patterns) as a kind of metronome to set the speed of the song. Then I either lay down rhythm guitar or do finger picking. Next, I sing the melody line. Then, later, I can harmonize with myself. I play lead guitar, bass, and keyboard and I can set any instrument to sound differently, via synthesizer control. In this way I build up a song, layer by layer. I create variations in percussion through use of different drum loops.

My 2nd CD ("Our Unwinding Time") has backwards notes in the song with the cover title. In a song on my 3rd CD ("Aboriginal Angel") I play the didgeridoo as a lead instrument. (The didgeridoo is an Australian aboriginal instrument normally used just for background percussion. Actually, what I play is a home-made slidgeridoo, which is a didgeridoo that can play several notes by means of sliding two tubes past each other in a trombone-like manner.)

Where The Glass Comes From

Listeners have asked me where the glass objects, that appear on my first 3 CDs, come from. Glass-blowing is a hobby that I have pursued for the last half-dozen years; so I have made all of these glass objects. I use a variety of techniques: flame-working, slumping, casting, and Venetian-style glass blowing.