BULL’S EYE: The Myriad Get To The Point

“Things with the band were wild and uncertain,” says Myriad guitarist Steven Tracy, of the period that led to the band’s May 13 release, With Arrows, With Poise (KOCH). “We were feeling we had to be very specific about what we were doing and had this moment we felt we had to capitalize on. We chose archery as the primary metaphor and theme because there’s something very apropos; you have one moment when the tension is set for release, and one moment to make sure your shot is accurate.

From there, we worked backwards. Everything was written to fall under that umbrella; it created a great reference point for us. We knew right away if an idea was going to work on the album or not.”

With Arrows, With Poise is the follow-up to the quintet’s ’05 debut, You Can’t Trust a Ladder, and a direct descendent of the Prelude to Arrows EP released as a teaser late last year. Together nearly six years, several of the members met at Simpson University—a Christian liberal arts college in Redding, Calif.—and then came together to play their first gig at a prestigious hometown venue, The Experience Music Project in Seattle. In addition to Tracy, the band includes vocalist Jeremy Edwardson, bassist John Roger Schofield, guitarist Jonathan Young and drummer Randy Miller.

Most recently, they rose to notoriety after winning “MTV2’s Dew Circuit Breakout” contest and touring with Mute Math and anthemic worship leader David Crowder. “David Crowder was like, ‘If I have to listen to a band for two months, it better be something that I like,’” says Edwardson.

Influenced by cinema and storytelling, the band hopes listeners come away with a haunting vision, phrase or riff stuck in their head that forces them into a fuller, richer exploration. Making good music, richly conceived, says Scofield, is an important goal. The Myriad plans to tour with Eisley in early summer, as they aim for the sky.