SYML Announces Tour, Shares Sinister New Video For THE BIRD

By: Apr. 12, 2019
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SYML Announces Tour, Shares Sinister New Video For THE BIRD

In support of his self-titled debut album (May 3rd), Seattle-based artist and producer SYML (AKA Brian Fennell) has announced a headlining run of East Coast dates beginning June 10th in Washington, DC at Union Stage, a West Coast stretch that begins August 12th in Los Angeles at The Troubadour and a performance at Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco on August 10th. Fresh off a sold-out North American tour with Dean Lewis and a slew of shows at SXSW, SYML will also play three headlining west coast dates next week, including sold-out shows in Portland and Seattle, before heading off to Europe for festivals. A complete list of dates can be found below.

SYML is also excited to share the official video for his critically acclaimed single, "The Bird." In February, NPR picked the track as one of the Best 11 Songs We Heard, calling it "fantastic" and "takes him to glitchier and more soaring terrain, like some sort of gorgeous pastiche of Hozier and Sigur Rós." The video was shot by Seattle director Hayley Young and features Tacoma-based, self-taught dancer and choreographer Larieza Leigh Smith, who SYML discovered via Instagram and immediately recruited to choreograph a contemporary piece for the video, which also features two of her students. It premiered yesterday via The Stranger who said, "the song's broodingly exquisite opening-which finds Fennell's gorgeous falsetto climbing over quietly picked guitar-breaks down into sinister electronics as the fluid dance moves of the trio, led by Leigh, become tighter and more pointed and robotic...perfectly conceptualized and executed.""

WATCH "THE BIRD" HERE

Focusing on the things that matter is how Fennell writes and records under his alias. Simplicity is what moves SYML - pronounced "sih-mul," it means "simple" in Welsh. A child of a closed adoption, Fennell only discovered his Welsh roots as an adult shortly before naming the project. Recorded in his basement studio, 20 miles outside of Seattle, his forthcoming debut album was mostly self-produced with select collaborations with Mark Ralph (Clean Bandit, Rudimental, Rag'n'Bone Man) and Chad Copelin. Mixed by Grammy award winning engineer Joe Visciano(Beck, Adele), SYML by SYML is 12 tracks of transcendent and emotional dream-pop, synth-rock, and cathartic, uplifting emotion.

North American Tour:

4/14 Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown ^

4/15 Portland, OR @ Doug Fir (SOLD-OUT) ^

4/16 Seattle, WA @ Columbia Theater (SOLD-OUT) ^

5/18 Glen Allen, VA @ XL102 Big Field Day

6/10 Washington, DC @ Union Stage +

6/11 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall Of Williamsburg +

6/12 Boston, MA @ The Sinclair +

6/13 Montreal, QC @ L'Astral +

6/14 Toronto, ON @ The Mod Club Theatre +

8/10 San Francisco, CA @ Outside Lands Festival

8/12 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour *

8/15 Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom *

8/16 Vancouver, BC @ Imperial *

8/17 Seattle, WA @ Neptune *

+ Fleurie support

* EXES support

^ Prolly Knot support

European Tour:

5/5 Groningen, Netherlands @Liberation Festival

6/8 Landfraaf, Netherlands @ Pinkpop

6/21 Neuhausen ob Eck, Germany @ Southside Festival

6/22 Scheessel, Germany @ Hurricane Festival

6/23 Leipzig, Germany @ Naumanns

6/25 Zwolle, Netherlands @ Hedon

6/26 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje, Paarse Zaal

6/27 Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg @ Rockhal

6/29 Werchter, Belgium @ Rock Werchter

7/1 Milan, Italy @ Magnolia

7/6 Dublin, Ireland @ Button Factory

8/8 Haldern, Germany @ Haldern Pop

9/11 Vienna, Austria @ B72

9/12 Munich, Germany @ Strom

9/14 Zurich, Switzerland @ Papiersaal

9/16 Frankfurt, Germany @ Zoom

9/17 Cologne, Germany @ Luxor

9/18 Berlin, Germany @ Bi Nuu

10/14 Brussels, Belgium @ Ancienne Belgique

10/15 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Paradiso

10/17 Oslo, Norway @ Ingensteds

10/19 Gothenburg, Sweden @ Oceanen

10/20 Stockholm, Sweden @ Debaser Bar Brooklyn

10/21 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Ideal Bar

10/23 Paris, France @ Maroquinerie

10/25 Brighton, United Kingdom @ The Haunt

10/26 Cardiff, United Kingdom @ Clwb Ifor Bach

10/27 Manchester, United Kingdom @ Band on a Wall

10/29 London, United Kingdom @ Scala


Videos