Dome Dwellers

In 2015, you'd think that it's all been done before in rock 'n' roll. And, yeah, it probably has. An over-crowded music landscape of sub-genres and variations can make one claustrophobic. Yet, Denton's Dome Dwellers can give you room to breathe. They're a rock 'n' roll band with a confident flair, a reaffirmation that the genre never died; it's just evolved.

Each member of the group has the capacity for an earful of musical savvy with Cullen Dean on bass, David Gore on drums and Michael Slack on lead guitar and vocals. What's more is that their drive to explore their music shows off an undeniably positive talent. They really make a great team.

When asked to describe their music, it's difficult for the band to pin-point just where they fit on the rock spectrum. Slack says they've been called an electronic guitar band because of their heavy effects, angular guitar riffs, intricate vocal melodies, jazz-influenced drums and a driving bouncy bass. It's a real melange of poly-sonic instrumentation comparable to the math rock of Maps and Atlases or Hella and perhaps a hint of the punk rock Minutemen. "It's hard because it's our music that we don't really know how people perceive when listening," Dean says.

The band's influences are all over the place. Their sound is rooted in psychedelic, jazz, hardcore, math, classic and indie rock. Slack tries to break it down into two words, "avant garage," but says that's more of a joke. It could be "out there stuff that definitely tie with a pop sensibility" or "a combination between conventional and weird music." Whichever way it goes, Dome Dwellers are a band that fits outside of the typical mold.

They started in 2012. Back then, Dean and Slack both played in bands on the Denton beat after which there was a time when Slack didn't have anything going on was writing some songs. He heard through a mutual friend that Dean wanted to start a band. Slack says it was just a two-piece for a while and after searching a few months for a drummer, they recruited Gore. Over the past few years they've been actively playing shows to receptive audiences, even if they may have been getting less credit than they deserve.

Dome Dwellers are not slackers. No pun intended, Slack writes most of the songs but also says their best work is written collaboratively. They're currently in the process of producing new material but their 2013 album Maybe I Should Have Some Pride is a roller coaster of musical intricacies and never a bore. Each song is a full composition of varied textures and rhythms that shift from one flavor of rock 'n' roll to another.

Gore said the album's name comes from the album's last song, "My Halo," and is a statement to remind themselves to be proud of what they do. "My favorite thing to play is 'Say It Ain't So', mostly because I selfishly inserted a drum solo in the middle of it," he jokes about one the songs that he and Slack both enjoy playing.

The album's first number, "Lie Down", changes moods from a hopping, soothing realm of sound with beautiful vocals and sparkling instrumentation to a gnarled-out chorus of raunchy low-notes to accompany vocalist Slack's lyrical blues. "Bellied Up" is another good one, starting out as an auric surf-jam that goes to a fast-paced march towards a colorful intermingling of Dean's bass and Gore's drums with Slack's awesome use of guitar effects. At times it's heavy, at other times it's mellow.

"Song Of Self-Assurance" defines the band's ethos. Slack said it came to him at a moment when he questioned his musical quest, then realized that it was exactly what he wanted to be doing with his life. It all ties in to the affirmative spirit of the band. "I think that I experience so much negativity around people's mentality of what they're going to do with their music," he said. "It's not really telling the world so much as it is telling ourselves that this is something we can do. Almost kind of a coming of age sort of thing," he says.

A personal favorite track on the album is "Carnivores" which really shows off Slack's vocal talent along to the band's trademark style of composition that amounts to simply enjoyable music. Not too polished nor too rough, this is the kind of music that's perfect to play to friends in a new music show-off session and where you're proud to say you listened to that band before they were big.

Clocking in at under 45 minutes, the album takes you on a psyched-out harmonic journey of hypnotizing guitar-driven tunes. Overall, it's a great album from start to finish. Slack says the songs are indicative of where the band is going for its next release to be out in the spring along with a slew of new material. Then they're working towards hitting the road and seeing where it takes them.

Dome Dwellers' next show is this Saturday at Dan's Silverleaf with Pearl Earl and Heavy Boots. It's a fundraiser for Kyndall Ramsey, a North Texas local and former roommate of the band who was recently in a car-bicycle accident that left her in intensive care on December 30. The proceeds go to helping improve Ramsey's recovery. For more, check out the event page here. - Dallas Observer

Well, if all else fails, Dome Dwellers, with their psychedelic artwork and crudely drawn geodesic domes, have brilliant artwork for their discs. Happily, all else doesn’t fail, and it transpires that Dome Dwellers deal in herbal-scented pop music that sounds not unlike Kings of Leon covering the flaming lips in a kettle, surrounded by a plethora of mind-expanding drugs. It’s kind of bizarrely awesome and yet for all the world, aside from giving you a contact high, when it finishes you’ll be entirely unsure why you like it, but you’ll also want to play it again… loud. Weird.

Opening with the schizophrenic ‘lie down’, dome dwellers opens with an airy piece that sounds like Jeff Buckley on a fuzz-pedal laden trip into Sonic Youth territory. Swerving wildly between the twin beaks of psychedelic pop and out-and-out stoner aggression, it’s one of those tracks that can’t help to bring to mind the freak-show spazz outs of Sonic Youth at their peak, and the influence of the Velvets is never far from mind. ‘Bellied up’ is a delightfully frazzled piece of unhinged rock that trips on a sweet melody and guitar playing that threatens to fall apart at any moment. ‘Say it ain’t so’ should be piped in to prisons across the world in order to reduce inmate violence with its charming guitars sounding like a psychedelic representation of Fugazi unplugged, if you can imagine such a thing. With Cullen Dean’s bass playing an important role underpinning Michael J Slack’s flights of art-rock fancy and David Gore apparently imagining he’s in a jazz band, the music takes all manner of unexpected deviations and it’s a simple pleasure to try to anticipate what the band will do next. ‘Polymath’ is similarly uninhibited, the band flailing away at their instruments, seemingly with complete abandon, even whilst some of the dynamics at the heart of the song are delivered with a precision that belies the slacker sound of the record. The song collapses in a welter of noise and segues neatly into the ‘song of self-assurance’, which sounds like it was written and recorded in a toy factory such is the sense of joy it emits.

The sense of the bizarre continues on ‘Crazy talk’, a sparkling gem that crackles with energy and nods thirteenth floor elevators as played by pavement whilst ‘carnivores’ is a frothy piece of throwaway pop that wouldn’t sound out of place on a meat Puppets record… if the meat puppets recorded with Scottish noiseniks Urusei Yatsura, a notion further reinforced by the speaker-destroying finale. The final track, ‘my halo’, closes the album with backwards-masked sounds and echo-drenched guitar, the band clearly revelling in one last chance to take the listener on a journey into the unknown where marshmallow jellyfish float past candyfloss sheep amidst walls of blazing Marshall amps.

Dome Dwellers are one of those bands that adhere to no other rules than their own. Their music harnesses echoes of alt-rock’s most unhinged bands and combines them with the ghosts of the psychedelic seventies, always sounding fresh, inventive and fun. They’re the sort of band you’ll want to play to your friends and the sort of band that will (and deserve to) inspire a loyal following that will undoubtedly cross oceans to see them play live. For sure they’re a band who’ll divide opinion, with their oddball humour, unhinged guitar work and joyous melodies, but then the best bands do. ‘Maybe I should have some pride’ is a great record that’ll leave you with a huge smile on your face – gloriously, wonderfully unique, it has no immediate peers and it’s simply a joyous experience from its atypical start to its distortion-laden conclusion. Find this gem before it vanishes! - Sonic Abuse (UK)

I showed up to Club Dada around 8:45 p.m., just as the three-piece Denton band Dome Dwellers was performing sound check. According to its Facebook page, the band was a last minute addition to Thursday’s lineup. And after listening to the set and talking with some other audience members, I know that I wasn’t the only one pleased with the change. Never having heard of the band prior to this show, I was pleasantly surprised by its smooth transitions and technical prowess. The band played songs from their independently produced album, Maybe I Should Have Some Pride, and seemed to have an excellent rapport with each other as well as the audience, despite some technical difficulties. Its experimental progression was the perfect setup for the TEEN and Islands and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on them to see what they do in the future. - Listen Hear (Dallas, TX)

A month after the release of their third album, Cymbals Eat Guitars found themselves once again in Denton, Texas for what turned out to be an intimate and energetic set. To say that their show was good would be an understatement.

Local act Dome Dwellers started off the night, and their indie-rock, Vampire Weekend-like vibes were thoroughly engaging and crowd-pleasing. Reminiscent of fellow local acts Catamaran and Bashe, the Dwellers’ unique, heavier riffs were especially hard-hitting and were the highlights of their set, along with their stage presence. In all, it was a very solid performance.

With an interesting set, the next openers, Slothrust, combined rather dark/emo lyrics with a heavy yet minimalist sound. They did little in terms of engagement but lead singer/guitarist Leah’s guitar work was particularly strong. One or two solid songs that managed to combine all aspects of the band characterized their set.

Explosive in almost every sense of the word, Cymbals Eat Guitars tore through the night with a set that was heavily dependent of their newest, more personal album, “Lose,” which sees the band nod their head towards a slightly more pop influence while maintaining the stoner psych magic that defines their previous two records. It’s an incredibly addicting album that transfers well into a live setting.

“Warning” breathed life into the venue, and both the band and the crowd was immediately plunged into the storm of screaming vocals and audacious guitar riffs. A perfect opener, the song soon led to 80s-groove “Chambers,” my personal favorite in which singer/guitarist Joe D’Agostino explores the concepts of loneliness and death. “XR” saw the band take no pause as they continued with their vivid performance. It was impossible to ignore the energy of the band; within a few songs Joe was already covered in sweat. His command of both the guitar and the stage were impressive, as was the passion behind his words as he screamed the lyrics into the microphone. Throughout, Cymbals maintained a strong connection with the crowd and their energy did not dissipate in any way as they plowed through most of what remained of “Lose”. Especially noteworthy were “Jackson,” which possesses a tenacious rawness and powerful guitar solo, and “Laramie,” whose softer falsetto tones creep into an ear-piercing orchestra of youthfulness. Nostalgic glimpses into the band’s first record were found as they played “Living North” and “…And The Hazy Sea” as well as other older songs during their encore.

“Lose” represents the “microcosm of life,” as Joe put it, and its live rendition throws you right in the middle of it. With it, Cymbals Eat Guitars want to be the best live act in America. If their show at Dan’s SilverLeaf proved anything, it’s that they certainly are contenders. - Radio UTD

Huddled and cramped inside your typical college house in Denton, three men in their 20s are kindling complicated mathematics on stage using their rock instruments. The casual listener might only know them for their loud sound, but those in the know can pick out the changing time signature. With the release of their debut album last month, “Maybe I Should Have Some Pride,” Denton’s Dome Dwellers have meshed falsetto vocals, driving bass, and picking tremolos to make calculus-style tunes in just eight tracks.

Michael J. Slack (guitar and vocals), Cullen Dean (bass) and David Gore (drums) make up this trio. They fumbled through the struggles of most first-year bands (going through three drummers until finding David, and wondering how much clothing is an appropriate amount to shed at a birthday house show); put out an EP and began playing more house shows; started tracking the makings of their first record in a garage in the middle of July (in Texas); put out a single, “Songs of Self Assurance,” off their full-length album – and then, began planning for their debut release show at Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios, set for Dec. 2013.

Just a year earlier they were performing above Denton Square Donuts. No longer allowed to plug in and jam out there because of their massive sound, they crank up their amps a few times per month at house shows and local venues. “House shows made our band,” Slack said. “Anything to get the most amount of people to hear your music where they don’t feel some expectation.”

Reminiscent of The Dismemberment Plan, with always-changing time signatures, this Denton trio has a lot more to offer from the lurches of their dome. They come from hip-hop, jazz, indie-rock, post hard-core, and DIY screamo backgrounds; they have music hieroglyphs for nearly every genre in their dwelling.

Opening with low-fi radio transmission on the first track, “Lie Down,” they quickly erupt into math rock fuzz with distorted chimes and loud upbeats and tremolos. They leave behind any hesitations that they’re just another subpar Denton garage act.

“Because of our three different angles of thought, I think that’s really our sound,” Dean said. “We don’t just go for one sound.”

After leaving their heat-squelched garage, they ended up in the cool comforts of Lazy Day Studios, where they recorded the entire record. Sam Coronado (from Denton’s own Sacco & Vanzetti, and Lazy Day Studios) also produced the album alongside the band.

A year prior, they were also featured in the video web show, A Small Good Thing – ran by Sam and his brother, Marcus Coronado. “It was a privilege to do that so early on,” Cullen said.

“Neither of us have experienced this kind of success in a prior group,” Slack said, as he and Cullen added they hope for Dome Dwellers to have a national tour soon, and also perform at this year’s SxSW down in Austin, TX.

“I’ve written another album’s worth of material that’s completely different than what’s on this one,” Slack added. They’re ready to take on the new year and add another set of drawings to their dome now. “I enjoy bringing this idea to the table and seeing it transform.” - Little D, TX (Denton, TX)

We highlighted Dome Dwellers with the song “My Halo” off of their last EP back in our September 3 Songs column. Back then, we said the following about Dome Dwellers, “The guitars are full of 90’s-era chimey-ness and tremolo and the math rock aspect of this tune acts as more of a hook than it does a headache - let’s just say that it’s more Algebra 1 than it is Pre-calculus.” This holds true for their debut album, Maybe I Should Have Some Pride. It’s chock-full of lite math-rock goodness that doesn’t fall far from the initial statement on their EP, and that isn’t a bad thing at all. The entire album is available to purchase on bandcamp for whatever price you would like to pay. We’ve listened to the entirety of the album and dig it quite a bit. This track, “Bellied Up,” is immediately one of our favorites. Lots of super 90’s bass and reverb-laden guitar noodling throughout. The hooks don’t come in until late in the game, but when they do, they hit hard. Lead singer, Michael Slack’s falsetto has become pretty darn impressive at this point, too. Catch these guys live on December 14th at Rubber Gloves for their CD release party. - We Denton Do it (Denton, TX)

Dome Dwellers are an indie rock trio from Denton,Texas, with art rock elements and free form pretensions.

The band is very much the sum of its idiosyncratic parts, as all three players spiral into different directions to colour sparsely arranged tracks with their intermeshed sounds.

Principal songwriter Michael J. Slack appears happiest when slipping back and forth between hurried lead and rhythm guitar parts, while Cullen Dean provides the melodic west coast bass runs. David Gore’s crisp percussive work glues it all together, as the vibrant trio contrive to take the songs to the outer limit before gracefully returning to base.

Their music is shot through with timeless quiet-to-loud dynamics on which the emphasis is on snappy, edgy rhythms, topped by harmony filled vocals.

‘Maybe I Should Have Some Pride’ certainly forges its own path on 8 tracks that restlessly strike out in several directions, with fast changing time signatures and stop-start rhythms that the gives the coherent composite its edge.

The band embraces the art rock elements of Talking Heads and the poppy coherence of Spoon and any number of alt. indie band influences. Ultimately the Dome Dwellers seem happiest working within a deconstructed D.I.Y. rock ethic that eschews conventional solos and relies on intricate interplay and fast changing rhythms that barely give you time to catch your breath.

‘Carnivores’ for example, has a push and pull feel on which David Gore’s bursts of compressed drum rolls and Michael J. Slack’s trebly guitar runs add little pockets of tension that fade into the enveloping electronically distorted outro.

It’s nicely juxtaposed by the phased and funky intro of ‘My Halo’, which after a staccato break is driven on by a luscious bass into something different again, on a track bursting with as much vitality as variety. It’s a suitably boisterous finish to an album that somehow fuses dense songs within sparse arrangements.

The band’s exploratory style is rooted in the up tempo, post-punk pop of the opening track ‘Lie’ Down’, as they glide through the catchy pop and shifting dynamics of ‘Bellied Up’, before Michael reaches for falsetto on the vocal line of ‘Polymath’.

The aptly titled ‘Song Of Self Assurance’ does indeed ooze confidence, as a voice collage floats over a drum work out, before giving way to a spindly guitar motif with crisp cymbal work, leading to a tension busting wig out.

Much like the album as a whole, it’s a piece of music that refuses to sit comfortably in one particular genre, and confirms the band’s fierce independent spirit. - Get Ready to Rock (UK)

The band known for thoughtful play between jangly surfy riffs topped with vocal severity, Dome Dwellers, is one to closely watch.

David Gore on drums keeps pace, provides backbone while Cullen Dean keeps it danceable on bass and Michael Slack provides the sporadic riffing and affected vox. Through a revolving set of songs they’ve put in the domes of many-a-Dentoner, the band has etched a sound they own. Memorable characteristics include staccato-tremolo guitar play, innovative melodic breaks, and poppy hooks that will dive deep into the kind of jam havoc that moves homes. Beyond the tense sections, subtleties like melancholic droll and nostalgia will crop up and by the end of the set you’ll be on their side.

Dome Dwellers’ latest track “Song of Self Assurance” is a lighthearted air made of dizzying rhythms and agile fretting, with some pretty significant mood changes along the way. Capped with a reprise, the opening bit features a Slint-esque narration, serving as a sort of invitation to the ethereal dreamscape spanned by the song. Lyrics touch blithely on the question of purpose and wind around into what seems to be a renewed raison d’etre. This is the first single released from the forthcoming full-length Maybe I Should Have Some Pride (coming out December 3rd), so be good and Santa could bring you an LP that’s as dope as the single. Check it out on Bandcamp (it’s free to download)! - Drippy Denton (Denton, TX)

To be honest, y’all, we had a hard time writing this column this month. Things didn’t come together too easily and we spent easily an hour last night crawling through SoundCloud and Bandcamp, listening to various recent tracks from Denton bands and nothing was sounding good to us (let's leave it at that). We were getting pretty bummed and then we just so happened to stumble across "My Halo" from Dome Dwellers. Everything was immediately right with the world. Seriously, this is great stuff and hopefully a precursor of more that we’ll be seeing from this trio of dudes who have a full length coming in late October. "My Halo," itself, reminds us a bit of the Canadian band, Women, before they imploded a few years back - mathy and disjointed in the best of ways. The guitars are full of 90’s-era chimey-ness and tremolo and the math rock aspect of this tune acts as more of a hook than it does a headache - let’s just say that it’s more Algebra 1 than it is Pre-calculus. Whether they’re aware or not, this slightly epic track harkens back to the days of Denton space rock and we couldn’t be happier to be reminded of that era. Do yourself a favor and give this a listen. Heck, you can even download their entire EP for free from their bandcamp. - We Denton Do It (Denton, TX)

"Denton's Dome Dwellers released the least aggressive math rock laced album we've ever heard -- and, believe us, that's supposed to be a huge compliment" - Central Track (Dallas, TX)

You would think Dome Dwellers had been holed up in strange ecological glass thingamijigs since about 1970, on a listen to the opening couple of numbers from their debut long player.

This Texan three piece stir psychedelic prog and peppery alternative beats into one big crazy boosh and send it across the bar at us. It is impossible to avoid rating this raucous retro tinged outing highly when you have the ingredients like this and also care to remember that such sounds did once co exist within a shared decade.

The big but basic rhythms have you bouncing about in the long grass as each tune after another rolls out of your dad's old rusty record prayer and into the sunlight. Try 'Lie Down', 'Bellied Up', 'Say it Ain't So', 'Polymath' or 'Crazy Talk' without doing other than just sitting cross legged beneath a tree with your acoustic guitar on your lap.

Maybe I should have some more of this lot.

8.5/10 - Metalliville Webzine (UK)

This lively, all parts separate but equal, three-piece is making music that is danceable, progressive, and infectiously unique. Songwriter Michel J. Slack brings sharp guitar licks surrounded by edgy affected rhythm, and delayed loops. Cullen Dean supplies a healthy dose of tonal, sometimes funky, breakdowns on the bass. When you take these two separate pieces and mix in David Gore’s simple set of syncopated fills and solid steady drum grooves you have a sound that is even and well-rounded.

What’s really special about this group is that while the original music and lyrics are written by Slack, none of the members feel any restriction on what they should or shouldn’t be adding to their sound. This makes each of their parts very distinct. However they have no trouble melding those unique parts into something that is neatly cohesive. Because of this, the band’s genre is hard to pinpoint. The style of a show for Dome Dwellers can range from harder punk, to southern rock, and even lighter indie rock, but they still manage to fit in perfectly.

The band’s first demo can be heard or downloaded at a name your own price on their bandcamp website. “We basically made these tracks to hear what we sounded like” says Dean about the demos. Their recordings have such great raw vibes that give you a precise impression of what their live shows are like. On stage the boys are lively and engaging, screaming and dancing though breakdowns, and occasionally rapping, they have fun and so does the audience. “Crazy Talk” is a great example of how the band builds their sound from the ground up, changing and moving around the open space that the song creates. It is also the perfect mix of the many feels and sounds that the band can encompass.

Dome Dwellers’ schedule is consistently full, they can be seen up to two or three times a week in Denton at local venues and house shows. They make the occasional trip to Austin as well, and are currently shopping around to record their first full length album. - The Denton Localite (Denton, TX)

アメリカはテキサス州デントンよりインディーロック/マスロックバンドDome Dwellersがアルバム『Maybe I Should Have Some Pride』をBandcampにてname your priceで公開中！余りの格好良さにフィジカルを即購入してしまった・・・

マスロック的なアプローチを忘れずに、ギターロック～フォークロック的なイメージを常にまとった作品です。そう荒々しくはなく、ポップで聴きやすい。勿論リズムの取り方はマスロック的で面白いのですが、細部に見受けられる楽曲の繊細さが堪らないし心地いい。全体的にインディーらしくキャッチーなヴォーカルがグッと来ます（#2.Bellied Up）。別に劇的なハイトーンがあるわけでは無いですが、素朴なフレディ・マーキュリーというか、ちょっとそういう空気を感じてしまったり（#8.My Halo）と、ハードでドライヴィンなロックを、よりポップに再解釈したとでも言えるかもしれません（#6.Crazy Talk）。

録音状態もどこかライブテイクのような、ちょっと籠った感じがまた味がある。勿論これはこれで良さがあるから即買いしてしまったのですが、今後もっとクリアな音で作品を出したら確実に彼ら、化けますよ！ - hihiwhoopee (Japan)

We kick off ‘Maybe I Should Have Some Pride’with ‘Lie Down’, a jolly melodic ditty with a hint of Bernie's lead guitar a la Joy Division, gets heavier, nice bass riff at chorus. This is a great start and I’m interested to hear more. So I am then straight into ‘Bellied Up’ which again has a melodic opening and an early nineties indie feel about it, similar vain to the opener in fact. Musically again it reminds me of Joy Division but without the haunting vocals of Ian Curtis, for some (but not me) not a bad thing.

The tempo is upped slightly with ‘Say It Ain't So’, and these 3 tracks are growing on me quite nicely. Good guitar, decent bass and a great bit of drumming, coupled with decent lyrics sang well. So whilst ‘Maybe I Should Have Some Pride’ may not be an album to grab your attention immediately, it certainly deserves for you to give it another listen. Next up then is ‘Polymath’ with a slower start, but the same Dome Dwellers formula which for me is no bad thing.

One thing I did pick out from this album though is the fact that it is a record for bass players, the old old four string is prevalent throughout. And this is never more obvious than when things funk up a bit near the end, as ‘Song Of Self Assurance’ adds funky guitar to the mix for what is inevitably another good track. There’s some strange harmonies at the end of this one though, make sure you listen out for them.

‘Crazy Talk’ again adds lots bass and guitar but in a more indie way, this tune reminds me of someone but I just can't put my finger on it. Then we have ‘Carnivores’ another track that sounds familiar but is just different enough to make it a cracking Dome Dwellers track. There’s also a slow almost industrial-esque ending to this one before we end the record with ‘My Halo’.

‘Maybe I Should Have Some Pride’ is good album, which I certainly enjoyed, and Dome Dwellers would go down well on an afternoon set at Glastonbury because they make cheery music to bop to with the sun on your back. Okay they are not quite ready for a main act slot just yet but they are worth a bloody good listen in the meantime. Oh and I almost forget the best bit, you can download it for free from the band’s Bandcamp page below.

Cheers Zig Zag. - Uber Rock (UK)

Local band Dome Dwellers play to a small crowd in the living room of Two Bronze Doors under dim Christmas lights, surrounded by abstract paintings and sculptures. Two years ago, art curators Jonathan Foisset and Natalie Jean Vaughan searched all over Dallas for a space like this.

“Natalie was wanting to find a space of which we could live in and then work out of, which is actually really hard to find. And it just so happened that this house kind of appeared right in front of our face,” Foisset said.
Foisset and Vaughan had previously worked together at Nerve Gallery and Humano Exhibition. The two worked there with other artists but Vaughan said they were limited what they could do there. They wanted something more.

And they’d been to the cozy two-story house near Lower Greenville before to see a psychic for Vaughan’s birthday.

“Now, the psychic didn’t tell us that we were going to live in this house but we got our palm read, you know, we got our readings told and whatnot,” said Foisset.

He was skeptical. The psychic made some predictions about their future, like that Vaughan would end up traveling and that Foisset would become famous in Europe. But most of her predictions didn’t come true.
“We kind of moved on,” he said.

Not too long after the visit, the psychic skipped town. The house was up for rent and Foisset and Vaughan opened it up as an artist residency in 2012.

They named it Two Bronze Doors after the work of artist Brunelleschi at the start of the Italian Renaissance. And the couple hopes to have a Renaissance of their own here in Dallas.

The space has quickly become a core part of the local Do It Yourself or DIY art, music and poetry community where dozens of artists get exposure.

“It feels like it’s always open and that’s what we want. We want to have a neighborly feel, we want it to reach our neighborhood.”

And the house also might be haunted.

It all started when one of the art residents started hearing strange noises in the house, Vaughan says.
“She was getting a little freaked out and she got in contact with someone who put her in contact with Cold Facts Paranormal and we have some crazy EVP’s.”

EVP’s are electronic voice phenomena. And according to the Cold Facts investigation, there were six different voices, possibly ghosts, in the house.

Then Vaughan saw something – or someone.

“It was like 7 o’clock in the morning and I went downstairs to get a glass of water out of the kitchen and we have a laundry room and a mud room and so in the laundry room we have a refrigerator in there,” she said. “So I got the glass of water out of the fridge, poured my water and I was walking out and this man is just walking through the mud room and he’s about to go into the house, he didn’t notice me at all and so I just kind of gasped. Then he turns and he looks at me and just – poof – he looked horrified to see me though.”
Whether or not Two Bronze Doors really is a haven for ghosts, the old house, with its masonic architecture and weird past, is still a centerpiece for Dallas art and music.

So what does the future hold for Two Bronze Doors? Foisset said he’s not sure what will happen when the lease is up in December but for now, it’ll continue to be a home for local art and music – and the ghosts that possibly dwell within. - Art & Seek - KERA Radio (NPR)