About two years ago, the Deathray Davies singer/songwriter
John Dufilho rounded up a few mates—bandmate Jason Garner, Old
97’s drummer Philip Peeples and bassist Andy Lester—to play
Sunday nights at a pub in Dallas called the Barley House. “Basically,
we wanted to drink for free and have something fun to do on Sundays,”
Dufilho tells me over the phone from the road, where he’s traveling in
a Suburban sporting loads of duct tape repeatedly spelling out the
group’s name: I Love Math. “We can’t afford actual band stickers,”
Dufilho laughs.
Not yet anyway. What started as a just-for-fun, weekend-closing
playtime blossomed unexpectedly into two albums, a full US tour, and a
swiftly multiplying fanbase. I Love Math recorded their first
full-length effort with little intention, self-releasing the
self-titled record around Dallas only. Onstage at the Barley House,
“We’d just wing it and have fun,” Dufilho says. “It was never a serious
thing.”
Still, without aim, a sound—an instantly loveable amalgam of
’60s rock, pop, and country—of their own began to unfold. And so
Dufilho decided to direct more energy into writing songs for I Love
Math and their excellent new album Getting to the Point Is Beside
It. Anchored by a kit limited to just kick, snare, and brushes, the
group’s foundation is based on musical subtlety, which led Dufilho to
write in a similarly low-key style. “I wanted to be really minimalist
and straightforward,” he explains. “I wanted the songs to be as simple
as possible and define a sound that has limitations, like our rule of
having no cymbals.”
The minimalist approach brought the feathery vocals (both Dufilho
and Garner sing) to the forefront and allowed for a warm and swaggering
sound that meanders seamlessly from gritty country western to shimmying
retro pop—it’s the sort of album you welcome home for kicking
back and enjoying, easily. You could call it a Sunday record, and lucky
for us their Portland stop is a Sunday set and they play
first—get there early.