Capybara releases debut album Try Brother

Far from synth music about robots, members of Capybara get serious.

By Maura Howard

Published Sept. 22, 2009

Brimming with an eclectic mix of synth melodies, just a touch of folk and a percussive style that will not fail to get anyone's foot tapping, Capybara brings a refreshingly dynamic sound to the indie music scene.

This Kansas City-based band debuted their album, Try Brother, at the beginning of September and have since been spurring quite the buzz.

The quartet is composed of Mark Harrison, Jared Horne, Darin Seal and Joel Wrolstad, all of whom share an equal part in the making of their popcentric tunes, Harrison said.

"Really, you have to use a dry-erase board and two types of venn diagrams to chart out what each one of us does in this band," Harrison said of the band member's jobs. "At any one particular moment in time, you might catch us playing just one instrument, but each of us plays almost every instrument, from keyboards and xylophones to guitars and tambourines. Oh, and everybody sings."

The band comes from humble beginnings, as the members were friends living in the Midwest who had grown up making various types of music.

"Darin and I used to be in a band called Dadbot here in Columbia," Harrison said. "It was a silly synthesizer band that passed PB&J sandwiches out in between songs, wrote songs about free cake, failing tests and robot-human relationships that would never last."

Horne was classically trained in guitar, and Harrison and Wrolstad were in drum line together in high school.

It was after the members' years of garage bands and drum lines that they decided to start taking their music seriously. On Christmas Eve of last year, the musicians met at an IHOP and decided that after the holiday, they would leave their jobs and start making music.

On Jan. 7, the band purchased their van, "Martin Van Buren," and drove to the northern mountains of New Mexico where Try Brother was produced.

Try Brother embodies the band's philosophy, which Harrison said is too few people actually try most things.

Capybara is trying to take things seriously and remain encouraged and excited about their art.

"None of us have ever taken music this seriously before, so trying is all we can do," Harrison said. "We don't know the best ways to make music, travel on the road, meet people, but the more we try the more we learn, and we try again. We love music, and when we make music, we want it somehow to help somebody else, even if it is just helping them stay awake as they drive late at night between two places."

Key tracks on Try Brother include "The Wimp" and "Birthday Song for Bridgegirl," both of which are energetically harmonic songs with phenomenal vocal and percussive work.

As of right now, the band members say they look up to classic rock influences, such as The Doobie Brothers and Rod Stewart. They grew up listening to anything and everything. Capybara has received many Arcade Fire comparisons but is also similar to indie/folk bands, such as Vampire Weekend and Of Montreal.

Harrison poetically described the band's sound as "like sitting in your big sister's backseat of her car, watching as things zip by, smiling at the music she is playing — unfamiliar, but inviting sun-music."

Capybara is working on a college tour and will be visiting 44 cities during the fall semester.

"It's not the typical tour," Harrison said. "But it has great opportunities."

The tour will last until Thanksgiving and take a break until the end of the year and discuss what comes next, Harrison said. Playing at the Austin, Texas, music festival, South By Southwest is definitely in sight.

Although Capybara has only been together for a few months, they already have a diverse, exciting sound all their own. With such strides so early in their career, they are sure to make quite a mark on the indie music scene.