Between their respective rooms, brothers Jack and Charlie Silver have been crafting and refining songs for years. Jack paces back and forth between Charlie’s room and his own, testing his latest revelations in lyrical form, to pair with Charlie’s flashy guitar riffs. Eventually, songs emerge, shown first to family members and then to locals passing through venues surrounding Rahway, N.J.
What resulted is a nine-song album, “What We Became,” the debut record of their act “Cut The Kids In Half,” out Jan. 31.
Jack, a writing, literature, and publishing major at Emerson, and Charlie, an electrical engineering major at Boston University, started building “Cut The Kids In Half” when they were 14 and 15 respectively, writing dozens of songs over the last four years. Jack recalls writing the album’s closing track “The Quiet Life Of August” for his mother in a single evening, marking a turning point in the band’s songwriting process.
“None of our [early] songs that we had written really seemed to stick,” said Jack. “Charlie wrote the guitar part and I would come up with lyrics, adding a new line every 30 minutes or so; by the end of that night we had written the first verse and chorus. [Charlie] went to bed and I stayed up and finished the second verse, and that pretty much filled out the song lyrically. That process really felt enlightening; it felt like we were making something for the first time.”
The songs the Silver brothers have created together over the years have grown since their humble beginnings. Not only have they fine-tuned their performance, they have also beefed up their crew. “Cut The Kids In Half,” including the two Silvers, has become a five-piece live act, with Luke Tan on drums, Kevin Mortenson on rhythm guitar, and Joey Sorkin on bass, keyboard, and trumpet.
The once stripped-down duo has transformed into a field of gritty guitars guided by tender, yet commanding lyricism. This shift has given the band’s originals a whole new layer.
“It felt like we were taking these songs that we’ve been playing for many years and putting them in the context they had always intended to be, which is a raw powerful full rock band,” said Jack. “That felt like a full circle, a very invigorating moment for me.”
Charlie, likewise, sees the gears turning. Each new member opens a world of possibilities to make the existing songs carry more weight.
“All those parts were written for one guitar, so suddenly we have three multi-instrumentalists,” Charlie said. “I have all these songs to change and do exciting things with that I never had the opportunity to do before.”
The brothers wear their influences on their sleeves. The music of “Cut The Kids In Half” is peppered with homages to the Silvers’ favorite artists. Jack’s obsession with artists like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell has influenced his writing while he still maintains the spunk and worldview of a 19-year-old.
Charlie’s inspirations, meanwhile, stem from a curiosity towards guitar tones, noting modern musicians like Mk.Gee and Cindy Lee, as well as older acts like The Strokes. This wide net produces an aggravated, alluring buzz from Charlie’s guitar. If their idols aren’t apparent through their sound, look no further than the band’s name, a phrase ripped from the lyrical bridge on Radiohead’s “Morning Bell.”
Each brother’s interest in their musical forefathers gives the group a unique sense of direction. Each song on “What We Became” feels like the Silvers have been exchanging recipes for years, before preparing the perfect meal.
“I know next to nothing about notes, chords, or anything that would make a guitar move,” said Jack. “Charlie is a great writer in his own right, but he doesn’t have much experience in lyricism. When we’re working together, I’m sitting with him as he comes up with each chord on the guitar and he’s sitting there while I’m brainstorming lyrics and singing melodies—we’re reforming it together.”
The back and forth between the two is what makes “Cut The Kids In Half” a hidden gem. Songs like “A Good Man Died” and “Song of Two Humans” showcase Charlie’s striking and organic guitar chops paired with Jack’s raspy timbre.
The Silvers’ band is more than just a pretty sound: it’s Jack and Charlie’s thesis on what it means to grow up and become individuals. Speaking on the feelings he attributes to his adolescence, Jack stands by his youthful emotions.
“As you grow older you tend to distance yourself from who you were when you were 15, 16, or 17, and you kind of brush off and say: ‘I was so dramatic and emotional then,’ but in these songs I don’t hear someone who is edgy and emotional,” said Jack. “I hear someone who was writing songs with a purpose and our album is incredibly meaningful. And I don’t feel embarrassed about it, I feel very proud of the work Charlie and I have done.”
