Dulldrums Find Room for a Drone on It Was The Past

Every string on Rachel’s guitar is tuned to the same note on “It Was The Past.” Playing with a screwdriver, she sustains a drone that runs through the entire seven-minute track, while the arrangement gradually builds around it. Resting largely on two chords, the song finds movement in repetition, drawing on the hypnotic pull of the Velvet Underground’s “Heroin,” the minimalism of Steve Reich and the slow-building momentum of LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends.” It’s an unusually expansive moment on Dulldrums’ debut EP, where intimate bedroom indie meets a more experimental sense of atmosphere.

The Manchester duo, married musicians Matt and Rachel, spent years playing together in Mewn before pursuing a project that allowed more room for experimentation and a less demanding live schedule. Dulldrums began in their spare room, with each playing one instrument at a time while imagining the layers that might eventually surround it. They still rehearse with a full band a couple of times a month, but the writing remains rooted in that quieter, more personal setting.

An early experiment with two electric guitars and amplifiers convinced them to reconsider their approach. Rachel, a classically trained guitarist who previously played lead, returned to the classical instrument, while Matt began moving between electric guitar and synthesizer. They call the resulting sound “dream folk,” drawing on the intimacy of Nick Drake, Nico and Bert Jansch alongside the atmospheric instincts of Portishead and the Durutti Column. There’s a distinctly homespun quality to the music, with delicate guitar figures and softly layered textures creating a sense of space without losing their closeness.

That balance shaped the recording of It Was The Past. Working with their friend Shane, a producer and engineer, the pair moved away from their familiar live-band approach, recording to a click and assembling arrangements layer by layer. The title track is the EP’s only song to feature drums, using a deliberately simple combination of toms and cymbals inspired by the Velvet Underground. Elsewhere, the absence of percussion leaves the guitars, organ-like tones and vocals to establish their own sense of movement. The title track proved especially difficult to develop at home, only revealing its fuller shape as the studio layers came together.

Across six songs, Dulldrums return to themes of loss, memory and regret, allowing the music’s hushed atmosphere to carry much of the emotional weight. Yet closing track Carry You On turns towards a more hopeful perspective. After an EP spent dwelling on what has been lost, that final gesture suggests the possibility of moving forward without needing to leave the past entirely behind.