Photoreal

Brooklyn pop-rock duo Photoreal concerns itself with memories — primarily, memories of past and present relationships. It’s territory lead vocalist Diwas Gurung and vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Dan Halperin have explored since they began releasing singles in 2012. Now they’re continuing this trend with their latest song, “That Life”.

From the opening synthesizer pulses and drum machine snaps, there’s a sense of nostalgia to the track. Right away, Gurung starts looking backward, remembering a life he once had and a face he used to fondly gaze upon. The bright tones of the guitar can’t overpower the looming sadness in the vocals and lyrics, giving a beautiful glaze to the band’s melancholy. It’s a serene look at regret and longing for a first love, utilizing the familiar sounds of ’80s pop. - Consequence of Sound

Tiny Desk Contest Entrants: Photoreal (Diwas Gurung and Dan Halperin)
City: Brooklyn, N.Y.
Original Song: “Wholonsome”
Every day we share some of the Tiny Desk Concert Contest entries that stood out to us. - NPR - Tiny Desk Contest

“‘Understand’ is a confrontation, a challenge from the smoldering wreckage of a hopeless cause. An exercise in willful ignorance and red eyed rudeness, the production eschews cymbals and hi hats to make room for it’s brittle fuzz guitars, and a motorik rhythm that is relentlessly locomotive.”

So sayeth Brooklyn’s Photoreal, a collaboration between Dan Halperin (vocals, guitar, synth) and Nepal-born Diwas Gurung (lead vocals, guitar). We cannot argue, but will add that the tune is also relentlessly catchy! According to Halperin and Gurung, the songs they are release now “are the vanguard of a bunch of material that we’re in the process of recording, piecing together a proper release.”

We eagerly await more. - The Big Takeover

Mike Parker, Diwas Gurung, and Dan Halperin of Ayurveda will debut their new band, Photoreal, at Castaways on Saturday, April 14. “It’s a big change of musical direction,” said Parker. “The two other members of Ayurveda decided to go on to do non-musical things.”
Ayurveda came together in 2004 and Parker had been the drummer for the past six and a half years. The band spent an enormous amount of time away from home. “We lapped the country several times,” said Parker. “For some reason we were more popular on the West Coast. For the last three years, until last September, we were on the road more than we were home.”
Parker described Ayurveda as basically a progressive rock band, while Photoreal is a pop band. “There will be more of the standard song form with the lyrics and melody being more important,” the drummer said. He promised that the sound of Photoreal would be even bigger than that of Ayurveda because, although they are now just a trio, each of them will be using a lot looping and sampling technology on stage.
In the course of their history the Ayurveda sound had already evolved quite a bit. “In the beginning it was harder rock, although not metal, but an almost grungy sound,” recalled Parker. “Then we discovered we were trying to do different things, go in new musical directions, but people wanted us to keep doing the original harder sound.”
So, Parker, Gurung, and Halperin decided to rename the band so as not to further confuse people’s perceptions of their sound. “We decided that it’s not fair to take them places that they don’t want to go,” he said.
In addition to being more electronic than Ayurveda, Photoreal will have a light show, something the old band never did. “We looking at the whole piece as art,” said Parker. It’s not really entirely there yet, but hopefully someday it will be a piece of art.”
While every member of Photoreal will be building their own loops, there will also be interconnections among the members, so that one can trigger the sounds made by another.
“I’ve always been interested in this technology,” said the drummer, “and for the last two or three years Dan has been incorporating it [in his bass playing] for Ayurveda, but we didn’t go to the extreme. Diwas has always had an interest in music technology. All of us are interested in making music, not just playing an instrument.”
He said that the greater use of electronics allows each band member to work out full songs on their own and then bring them to the other band members so that they can deconstruct them and refine them.
“Ayurveda” is tradtional form of medicine in India that promotes what might translate as “wellness,” making sure that healthy people stay healthy.
Parker said that Ayurveda’s music always had a positive and even spiritual message. “But it had a hard edge, which somehow falls under the shadow of doom and gloom,” he said. “When you put a distorted guitar into it people get the wrong idea.” All members of Ayurveda had musical training and their music was very complex and “not necessarily easy to digest,” according to Parker. It did not leave much room for improvisation. The Photoreal approach, in contrast, will.
Photoreal has every intention of becoming as popular as Ayurveda was. They plan to tour as heavily as Ayurveda did and may begin to start building their reputation in Europe while doing only high profile shows in the U.S. They have already been able to secure booking all over the country based on the proven track record of Ayurveda.
“There’s a built in audience for the music,” said Parker. The name of the old band and the presence of Nepali guitarist Diwas Gurung assured them a fan base in the Nepali communities all over the U.S. • - Ithaca Times