By Keith Walsh
To paraphrase legendary singer/songwriter Dion DiMucci, when it comes to matters of faith, ‘surrender’ isn’t a bad thing at all – it’s a positive. Surrender is the title of the new EP from Roberto Montoya x RHYS. Montoya explains his lyrics to the title track in this way:
“’Surrender’ is about surrendering to hope and acknowledging our need for love and salvation.”
The three song narrative starts with loneliness and isolation, culminating in an epiphany of love. Montoya and RHYS are neighbors in Austin, Texas who first collaborated on Neon Ballet when RHYS (Connor Williams) was going by the moniker .PHNX. Surrender, their second collaboration, finds the duo continuing their dark pop journey while expanding into more progressive electronic territory, specifically on the second track “Void,” with Montoya’s delicious electric guitar work interacting with the beats and stylish synth melodies of RHYS. With the dominance of minor keys, Montoya’s soprano vocals and Williams’ sounds, there’s more than a passing resemblance to the mid-career work one of my favorites, Radiohead.
I asked Montoya and Williams how the project took shape and how they collaborated.
Synthbeat: How were three songs the ideal number to tell the story you wanted to tell?
Roberto Montoya: There were actually four tracks that we started with but only three ended up on the project. The fourth song was a bit too underdeveloped and once we finished the other three songs, we thought the EP sounded complete.
Synthbeat: This is more of a dramatic arc and definitely not standard Christian music. Why did you choose this style of narrative?
Roberto Montoya: RHYS wrote the music and named the tracks so I wanted to develop a story line that tied in with the song titles. The first song I wrote lyrics for was ‘Surrender’, which is the last song on the EP. Once I had those lyrics, I decided to develop a theme with the other two. I chose the order of the songs based on the lyrics.
Synthbeat: Is RHYS the new brand from now on? Does it mean “Rise” or something else?
Connor Williams: RHYS is the new Techno brand. All future techno under it. No second meanings, just my middle name. It’s Welsh spelling.
Synthbeat: Any new gear here?
Connor Williams: Diva was super present for this EP. That analogue type sound is what I was shooting for.
Synthbeat:. Are you meeting in person to create these songs or are you saving gas by working remotely?
Montoya: We live in the same neighborhood so we do meet in person to work on ideas. We didn’t meet up for this particular project but we’ve got other music in the works.
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