ONLY ECHOES - Heavy Soundscapes For Complex Emotions... (USA - Instrumental Post Metal - Interview with Dustin).

Hello ! Can you introduce yourself and tell us how it all began for you - your encounter with this musical universe, what appealed to you, what fascinated you and what made you want to get into music?
We are four Denver natives that linked up through our love of heavy music. Only Echoes really began as a way for us to connect more with these genres of music that we love. Post rock and post metal and all those genres that can explore emotions in such complicated ways. Writing in this genre is really freeing and lets us express some complex emotion that's hard to do otherwise.  We just want to play our instruments together and be loud and play songs that mean something to us and hopefully to others as well.  
Only Echoes is Austin Minney, Ben Rosenberg, Dustin Yourishin, and Zach Sirotkin.

What if I told you that you have to leave for a desert island in 5 minutes—you have no choice… except to take three albums with you… which ones, and why? Would you say that these were game-changers at some point in your life?
I think there's a good chance each of us would choose different albums even if we chose the same artists, but I'll choose a big 3 that sort of encapsulates the Only Echoes sound.  
Isis - Panopticon
Baroness - Red
Deafheaven - New Bermuda
 
Tell me about the band... How you met - the current line-up - past experiences - and above all - WHY the need to form THIS band?
Dustin and Austin started the band in 2018 but we arrived at the current lineup in 2022 and we are very grateful to have found Ben and Zach. They are such a natural extension of what we started with and this combination of people is definitely the ideal lineup of this band. I think all four of us feel a really deep pull to play complex, emotional music like this. Only Echoes is a really positive force for us and if it was any other band, even if we had the same four people, it just wouldn't be the same.

 
 
Describe your sound and explain why I should listen to YOUR band at all cost ?
I think that our music hits some emotions and some atmospheres that are really hard to find and can be really cathartic for the right person. We are always hunting for new music that can do that and hopefully we have created something that fills that same need. I would invite everyone to listen to this album and see what they find in it.  
 
Musical inspirations/influences ?
Russian Circles, Pelican, Isis, Neurosis, Mastodon, Deafheaven and way more. We all listen to a lot of music, but try to intentionally write music in this vein for this project. 

You're an all-instrumental band, so no need to talk about lyrical influences.. What made you decide to go with an all-instrumental approach? Didn't you ever try to include vocals at some point?
When we first started working on this music, we didn't purposely exclude vocals. We just worked on the songs and tried to feel out what they needed before they felt done. Then eventually, we decided the songs felt complete as they were and that trying to fit vocals in felt like more of a distraction than an addition. This lets us focus on a lot of other aspects of songwriting.
Plus, we also like to do everything on HARD MODE.


 
About the band's discography... Imagine someone who doesn't know your band at all and wants to get interested in.. Which release would you recommend to start with, and why?
I would definitely recommend our newest release "Born Adrift" simply because it's our best release. I know it's cliche to say, but we all agree that this new record is our strongest group of songs we have collectively worked on. 
 
About your latest release ?
Born Adrift was recorded between October and December 2025 at Evergroove Studios and All Aces Studios by our Guitar player Austin. It is available on all formats from us on bandcamp or from our label Braeburn Records. The artwork is originally an 1876 wood engraving by Gustave Dore for an illustrated edition of 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' We hired a local artist named Celeste Hayes (@chayesart on instagram) to take the black and white engraving and add color and some illustration. We love how it turned out.

 

Future plans?
The only plan we really have to keep creating. We will start working on new songs soon and play some more shows. We play around Denver when cool shows pop up but touring next year is still very much on the table as well.

Your most insane dream with the band would be ?
Touring Europe with Russian Circles or Neurosis. That would be the perfect tour for us. Playing cool shows is really the way a keep a band going and a tour like that would be the dream.  

Your BEST & WORST concert - as a band - and why ?
Best show: One of our show highlights was opening for Pallbearer at the Bluebird Theater in Denver. That's one of our favorite venues and it was a really great crowd that loved what we were doing. It's hard to find vibes like that super often so we really enjoyed it.
Worst show: I think any band that has spent enough time on the road has had the experience of playing a show for no one but the bartender. It's not an ideal situation but hey, it builds character.


  
Next live-appearance(s) ?
We are headlining the Hi-Dive on August 22nd with our good friends in Creek, Seed of the Sorcerer, Womb of the Witch and Lovesick for Mina. 

Some words on your local scene - bands you're friends with and you'd like to name ?
Denver is home to an amazing amount of Post Rock and Post metal bands and we are lucky to live in a city where there is an amazing amount of eclectic music filled with amazing musicians. Much love to all our friends in the bands playing our release show as well as the homies in Abandons, Sungrave, Circling Over, Talking Point, Fainting Dreams, deadgods, Ghosts of Glaciers, Vexing, A Thousand Angels and Seven, Oyarsa and a bunch more I know we are forgetting.
 
What’s the question you’ve always dreamed of answering but have never been asked? Just a heads-up: I’m also waiting for the answer that goes with it...
We have a good answer to most questions, which is sort of our motto: NO GODS, NO VOCALS!