THOUGH HE’S A SELF-DESCRIBED “guitar junkie,” having played in a number of bands over the years and built up a solid profile as a pedal builder for Death by Audio and a new company, Trap Door Electronics, Travis Johnson enjoys letting his instrument play more of a supporting role in his newest project, Activity.
The Brooklyn-based quartet just released their second album, Spirit in the Room, with electronics and synths co-existing with heavily effected clean guitars — to the point where it can be a challenge discerning which is exactly which. It’s this ethereal and eclectic approach to sonic experimentation that allows Johnson and his bandmates — Jess Rees (guitar/vocals/keys), Bri DiGioia (bass/vocals) and Steven Levine (drums) — to prevail in the abstract, dreaming up floaty atmospheres that eventually morph into meditative trances. As he explains to Guitar World, the group is undertaking more of a modern twist on psychedelic rock, though with some obscure vintage influences coalescing with left-field British sounds from the Nineties.
“I guess it was a conscious decision to have the guitars sit in the background like that,” Johnson guitar — it’s definitely there — but quite often you can’t tell if it’s the main thing the song was written around. We’re all about the swirl of noise as a whole.
