Dylan Gilbert

"At the beginning, I was really focused on making a straightforward, slicked-up, indie pop record in the vein of Brian Wilson. I expanded that idea through each record," says Charlotte's Dylan Gilbert. That evolution over the five albums he's independently released since 2006 has been marked both by Gilbert's growing ambition and exuberantly playful take on the melodies at hand. He throws all manner of horn parts, guitar riffs and percussive ideas into his arrangements. In fact, he calls his latest album, Pangaea, "more of a book-end then anything," perhaps because it so maturely summarizes the indie pop-rock gleam he's been channeling since first starting out.

Starting in 2006, Gilbert's pulled double duty by producing layered, complicated albums, but touring full time with just himself, a guitar and a few noisy pedals. The task of reworking his orchestrations into solo pieces was fulfilling for a while he says, but things changed last summer. After being hit by a streak of bad luck personally, Gilbert leaned on a few friends to play backup on a tour. He blindly lucked into a new band.

Billing themselves as The Over Easy Breakfast Machine, Zach Jordan and John Harrell have been backing Gilbert ever since, gradually becoming an integral, collaborative part of his music. "Having my new bandmates around is really great because we just keep each other laughing all the time," he says, "I don't know how I would have gotten through last year's summer tour without those guys. We broke down, got in a wreck, I sprained both ankles, etc."

Those hiccups haven't scared Gilbert or his Over Easy band away from the road. On the contrary, Gilbert says he feels exhilarated by the new direction his music is taking. "I feel refreshed by a lot of things going on in my life and I think that's the most important thing for an artist anyways," he says.

"When you're out on the road," Gilbert continues, "things just move at a different speed and you have all this information coming at you all day. You're eating at a different place every night, sleeping in a different place every night, etc. Sometimes you just stop and think, 'This is insane. I think everyone should do it.'" —Ashley Melzer