A Seattle band. Jazzmasters drenched in reverb. Post-shoegaze rock, dream pop, power pop and noise. Bluesy, dreamy, shreddy, psychedelic.

The latest: “Oh, To Be Weightless in the Sky” (released 10/21/22)

Listen to other releases here or on BandCamp.

Read press here.

Nada Mucho says in their 41 for 2018: “… songs that alternately shimmer and hammer. These are songs that are perfect to score a rainy bus ride, or a day of introspection, but they absolutely explode live. Of all the bands exploring shoegaze in Seattle, Guest Directors are perhaps the best at getting the balance of mood and power right.”

Northwest Music Scene says: “… borrowing the tastiest elements from several genres resulting in an energetic and psychedelic dream-pop blend that will stick in your head.”

Guest Directors is a group of guides: comfortably demonstrating a familiarity with the sonic landscape of their native Northwest and poised to lead wherever its audience needs. The quartet’s confident chemistry and ambitious spirit eschew typical routes in favor of new paths brimming with honest secrets and bold challenges.

Their kaleidoscopic instrumentation is comprised of the delightfully tangled Jazzmasters and moody vocals of co-leads, Gary Thorstensen and Julie D., as well as Rian Turner’s volatile drumming and Charlie Russo’s propulsive bass work. The group has mastered its musical surveillance, recognizing each bit of sonic space as an opportunity for attention, examination, and artful refinement. And whether the moment calls for scaling peaks or wading through turbulent waters, the group is unwaveringly prepared, willing, and able.

Guest Directors’ spooky and soulful music evokes images of evergreen silhouettes, dreamy breezes, and the power of seemingly perpetual precipitation. Their music can evoke ghost-like shimmering and half-moons moaning to their cousin constellations, with a powerful base underlining it all. Their near-annual progression of EPs demonstrate harmonic, rhythmic, and stylistic explorations that hover around a familiar sonic center.

With Guest Directors, you will never feel lost. Instead, the band will help lead you to the spots that have always been your own.