Avantide – Keep Running (Album Review)

In today’s review on Music Review World, I will take you on an exhilarating journey regarding the birth of a musical act, their journey, and how all of this culminates into the album we’ll be covering today.

This story begins with two individuals. First, Daniel Pretzer. He grew up in Scranton, North Dakota, a small town and the hometown of singer Kat Perkins. He played trumpet in school band but was drawn to rock music, citing Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Tame Impala, and Spoon as major influences. This led to him teaching himself guitar effects and pedal-based sounds, as well as drums, by practicing on his school’s kit.

The second individual is Adam Maragos, who grew up in Bismarck and discovered music at a young age. He studied jazz guitar in school as a way to deepen his understanding of music and technique, while his taste leaned more towards rock acts like The Hives, Jet, The White Stripes, and The Black Keys. In high school he formed a rock band that won a local ‘Battle of the Bands’. He’s known for writing memorable melodies and layered, sophisticated guitar parts.

Long long ago, in the year 2014, they converged by meeting at Bismarck State College. Adam was studying Digital Audio Production and Daniel was studying Information Technology. They were introduced through classmates and quickly became friends, bonding over music, video games, frisbee golf, longboarding and late night hangouts. They were also regulars at Rhythm Records, a local record store and music venue in Bismarck owned by Richard Loewen. Loewen, a longtime fixture in the scene who played in bands such as Boreal Gardens and Kids with Beards then served as an inspiration and connection to the local music community.

This then led to Adam forming the band ‘Clashic’ in 2015 with Daniel frequently filling in on bass, drums and guitar. Adam then graduated in 2017 and moved to Minneapolis, leading to Clashic’s dissolvement. He then went on to form a two-piece project called Young Cosmo.

Daniel on the other hand, completed his bachelor’s degree in 2019 while remaining in Bismarck and spending most of his time in the college music department. He played guitar and bass in the jazz band, joined the guitar ensemble, sang in choir and men’s ensemble, and performed in the pit for musical productions including Rent, Mamma Mia and Heather. He played guitar in Hang on Marjorie, bass in The Great Scott Sound Salon, and regularly played for church services. He generally balanced a part-time job and full-time IT studies while intentionally getting as many musical reps as possible across styles.

However, things changed in 2020 when the pandemic halted touring and in-person events. Rhythm Records faced a change in ownership and temporarily closed, and Adam moved back to Bismarck from Minneapolis in September 2020 after a period of unrest in Minneapolis that disrupted daily life and local venues. A year passed, and Daniel and Adam resumed talking about playing together and launched a Twitch channel where they livestreamed improvisational jams with Adam on guitar and Daniel on drums. They soon decided to write music together again, and rented a rehearsal space in Mandan.

Also, their early improv sessions revealed that old approaches no longer fit. Both had grown as players and people, so they adapted their process. Writing shifted from freeform jamming to focused songwriting sessions with two acoustic guitars, each bringing riffs, chord progressions, and fully formed ideas to develop into songs.

After overcoming a prolonged period of writer’s block, the two of them began writing the songs that would become the album that we’re going to review today, titled ‘Keep Running’. Their process was deliberate: build the song’s skeleton on acoustic guitar: the melody, lyrics, and chord progression, and then move into the rehearsal room with drums and electric guitar to work out full arrangements.

Adam then recruited Richard Loewen, whom he knew and was mentioned before, to join the project. His presence boosted the sessions, with him quickly being a creative force in these sessions, contributing to arrangements and songwriting. After two to three months of writing and rehearsing as a trio, they booked their first shows.

Their debut performance then debuted on June 16, 2022 at Rhythm Records under the name ‘greyscale’. They shared that bill with Cold Sweat and the frontman of Hiahli. Two days later they played MoonFest III, a festival run by friends called the MoonCats. Early setlits featured five-song sets with early versions of songs like ‘Take It Slow’, ‘Million Miles’, ‘Sleep It Off’, ‘Tidal Waves’ and ‘Doesn’t Matter’.

Over the rest of 2022 they then played in more festivals and venues, writing three new originals and adopting one of Richard’s songs. Sometime in September 2022 they faced a conundrum, having discovered that many other acts were using the name ‘Greyscale’ or ‘Grayscale’ To avoid confusion and improve their chances of being discovered, they rebranded to ‘Avantide’. It is an invented word chosen for its uniqueness and ease of search.

We fast-forward to July 5th 2024, the official release date of Keep Running, featuring nine original songs. The producer of the album, Tyler Pilot, was very satisfied with the finished record. The album earned positive coverage from online blogs such as The Pentatonic and Obscure Sound and appeared on Rhythm Records’ best-selling list in Bismarck.

The album is a collection of dreamy and consistent indie-rock tracks that definitely do echo the specific sound characterising most indie music produced and conceptualised within the years of 2014 to 2018. This sound is not necessarily edgy, but retains the slight edge that comes with the technicalities of rock music. It’s almost like a neo-Morrissey, but I’m sure people within this genre would argue that it is its own thing. Listening to this, it’s hard to not bring up artists like Sondre Lerche and Stopgap, which have all used similar systems in their conception: a vocalist that oscillates between clarity and yearning, all with the twang of ‘dream’, with slight intensity brewing as the song progresses, and certain percussive patterns.

As much as the guitars try to add some sort of motivic variation within the tracks through solos, I have to say that unfortunately a lot of the structures and the syncopation used in these songs are really predictable, especially within this genre. That’s really my biggest critique of this genre, it’s 2025 and I don’t think any new techniques are used or fused to generate some sort of innovation. However, everyone’s not looking for some new hashing of sounds, and familiarity is a wonderful and beautiful tool that can be used to one’s advantage to revisit feelings that you want to feel over and over again. That I think is the beauty of the album.

Another thing I do have to commend is the chord structure and the production within this album. The chords used within all of the songs have an interesting set-up that do present these songs like stories, and that can keep you engaged. The production within this album also helps to elevate the feeling, with each element optimised to its potential and nothing truly ‘watered’ down. Every beat, every note is really clear. In some instances I can also hear a bit of noise rock influence, which can help drive the predictability factor away and provide the songs with more dimension.

Otherwise, if you’re already a fan of indie rock with soft grooves and sometimes venturing even in surf rock territory, with strong hooks and dreaminess weaved into each measure. ‘Keep Running’ is definitely the album for you. It’s a great testament to what has already worked within the genre, with strong intent behind each of these songs.

SCORE/Good – In the culmination of ideas, collaboration and all that has fuelled this act, Avantide delivers with ‘Keep Running’, filled with very classic indie and alternative rock tracks that play the act of balancing ethereal and dreamy tones with the sensibility and impulse of strong electronic guitar melodies. It is a very well-mastered body of work and has a high level of consistency as well. Even though it is not necessarily innovative, I think it is and can be even more of a cult favourite.

[We rank singles, EPs, and albums on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, and Outstanding]

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