Denison Marrs

    Denison Marrs

    Lakeland, Florida17 reviews across 5 releases

    dream popemoindie rockshoegaze
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    Denison Marrs was a Lakeland, Florida, rock band formed in 1995 as Divine Child; a conflict over that name led to the new name in 1999, which came from a mistaken reading of a Venus and Mars T-shirt. Eric Collins wrote the songs and sang in a high, sometimes imperfect but distinctive voice, giving the group its central contrast: devotional language delivered through emo's density. The 1999 debut, Holding Hands (@35,000 ft), surrounded worshipful cries with a continuous wall of chaotic, melodic guitar. World Renown for Romance in 2001 kept the haze but added clearer melodies, patient passages, new-wave bass and Cure-like guitar. By Then Is the New Now in 2002, the band had moved toward rough, direct modern rock, with power chords and aggressive climaxes replacing much of the earlier drift, while Collins' voice remained the fixed point.

    By 2003, drummer Jonathan Bucklew had left and Dean Lorenz had taken his place. The group also endured the bankruptcy of Velvet Blue Music, which left it in legal red tape, while touring, marriages, children and side projects made band activity harder to sustain. Denison Marrs called it quits in early 2004, then resumed long enough to release the self-titled Denison Marrs later that year; its songs combined the earlier atmospheric sound with straighter rock, bouncier basslines and more experimental guitar work. The band ended in 2005. Collins and Dean Paul Lorenz formed the Lakeland indie-rock group The Dark Romantics that summer, with Collins moving toward a darker, more subdued style after nearly a decade in Denison Marrs.

    5 releases reviewed