Great Wide Nothing

Born out of a love of progressive rock but unmistakably shaped by their years spent in the trenches of the punk & emo-heavy Atlanta scene, Great Wide Nothing represents the unusual union of two seemingly opposite artistic ideals. On the one hand, the trio - comprising bassist/vocalist & primary songwriter Daniel Graham, keyboardist Dylan Porper & drummer Jeff Matthews - displays a propensity for complex, grandiose and technically demanding arrangements, doubtless inherited from prog’s 70’s forebears. On the other hand, they're adept at crafting memorable melodic hooks & their songs are marked by a particularly down-to-earth sense of earnestness and urgency; a preoccupation not so much with lofty metaphysics or D&D-style fantasy escapism as with the messy emotions and burning existential uncertainties of the human experience, as well as with all-too-real, all-too-relevant social and political issues. Then there are, of course, their performances: raw and energetic in ways that can only be learned in the sort of small, unpretentious, sweat-drenched spaces where art is made and enjoyed not as a luxury or an exercise in indulgence, but as an antidote to the isolating and draining effects of life’s many struggles.