Savannah musician to watch, Garlands, takes a dark turn on new 'Abscess' EP

When he is not playing drums in local bedroom/dream pop band Bug Meat, Steffan Rost explores more sinister sounds with his solo electronic project Garlands. With a pitch black-toned new EP, “Abscess,” and several upcoming gigs, Garlands is a Savannah artist to watch.

Garlands started out as a solo electronic project eight years ago, but then spent a brief time as a full post-metal band before disbanding. Rost moved to Savannah five years ago to work in restaurants like Husk, and the former Atlantic, where he was executive chef, but when the COVID pandemic temporarily shut the city down, it gave Rost time to resurrect the Garlands moniker and focus on experimenting with electronic music on his laptop.

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Sometimes Rost produces beats intended for rappers like on “The Steffy LeFuego Beat Pack Vol. 1” release. Or he might experiment with music for plants as on “Plant Muzak Volume 1.” However, it is his harder edged, dark synth, witch house tracks that demonstrate his full creative energies.

“Abscess” begins with “Enemy,” a dark club banger full of shrieking synths, pummeling rhythm, and warbley auto-tuned vocals. “Polyp” follows with harsh jackhammer beats, blown out bass, and shredded, drowning-in-a-pool-of-rusty-nails vocals. “New Despair” features pleading singing calling up from an abyss over ghostly beats throbbing through a static haze. And final track “starskip96” features icy witch house synths over hard trap beats.

“I love the big bassy stuff,” said Rost. “I think in a way, trap is comparable to punk or metal. It’s just loud and in your face. It’s something you can head bang to.”

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Having played in hardcore and metal bands in the past, and also enjoying harsh noise, dark wave, power electronics, and industrial music, Rost finds a way to incorporate many influences into his music, all through the filter of the 80s music he grew up listening to.

“I’ve always been a big fan of electronic music, dance music,” said Rost. “I grew up listening to a lot of 80s New Wave when I was a kid. My mom had a lot of that stuff when I was very small. Being a big fan of hip hop also. I come from a mixed family and my mom listened to a lot of that, so it was a pretty big mix of cultural influence.”

Rost points to an interest into darker subject matter like mental health and drug addiction drawing him to post-punk, dark wave, and other more extreme styles of music.

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“Initially a lot of that leads to getting into more experimental, weirder styles of music that I feel still carry an essence of whatever you were introduced to as a child. That’s where the witch house and psychedelic stuff all came in. It all stems from listening to New Order, The Smiths, Flock of Seagulls, Depeche Mode, as child, and then finding more contemporary bands that do it in a darker, weirder, cooler way.”

When Garland performs live it includes the addition of Rost’s friend Dylan Puckett on guitar.

“He’s an incredibly talented musician. He plays all sorts of guitar, lap and pedal steel guitars, so he helps me in the live setting. There’s a few songs that I have that are kind of influenced by blues and have an eerie quality, so I think it’s very complimentary when we perform those songs. It’s one of my favorite sounds in country music or blues. If you have lap steel it takes it to a whole other level.”

Depending on the setting, audiences may get a different kind of Garlands show.

“I have what I call a ‘light set’ and a ‘dark set’ depending on if I’m playing a more rock, pop oriented show or it’s a darker punk or metal type show,” explained Rost.

Live, Rost plays guitar over electronic music, mixing live vocals with distorted digitally enhanced recorded vocals. He also leaves plenty of space for extended noise freak-outs and improvisation.

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“Dylan says that watching Garlands is like watching a live paining,” said Rost.

Garlands are playing at The Sentient Bean on Friday with punk folk singer Whiskey Faithful, and female-led hard rockers Sister Sandoz, who have been described as “Tori Amos meets Tool.”

Other upcoming Garlands shows include Dec. 4 at Lodge of Sorrows opening for the comic book-hard rock crossover act September Mourning, and December 16 at El Rocko Lounge with Southern fried alternative rock band BLURRY.

Garland’s “Abscess” is available on all streaming platforms.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Savannah GA concerts: Garlands at The Sentient Bean