Ferris & Sylvester - “I Dare You”

SXSW 2020 - OEB Score: 7; Popularity Index: 5

Pairs Well With…Jade Bird, Of Monsters and Men, George Ezra

Ferris & Sylvester followed up their debut EP Made in Streatham with a string of 2019 growing singles, mixing their signature Americana ballads with actual bangers like catalog highlight “I Dare You”. A thick electric guitar riff intersects Ferris & Sylvester’s acoustic pastures with confidence and grit, evolving their sound into a yearning stomp erupting with passion. Here’s to Ferris & Sylvester continuing to turn it up on their expected 2020 release. (Kevin McStravick)

2019 Review: Rootsy cool is the moniker that best defines Brit folk duo Ferris & Sylvester, aka Issy Ferris and Archie Sylvester. Their most recent single, “Burning River,” is an energetic ode to a trip together to Iceland and offers upbeat handclaps, guy/girl harmonies, with some occasional killer guitar reverb. “The Room” is their take on tough times Americana style. Issy’s husky vocals evokes Patsy Cline, but it is their voices together that elevate that song. Archie’s finger picking would get nods of approval on a holler porch in West Virginia as would his slower, evocative pedal steel guitar down in Nashville. Even slower ballads like “Berlin” have an intensity that holds you. Sylvester and Ferris have the Brit folk scene buzzing making them poised for a breakout in Austin.