The Fog’s members are barely legal, but their sound is all grown-up

I think us being weirdos has been the most beneficial thing for our band,” Ian Teeple says. The guitarist and lead singer for the Fog adds, “We’re, like, actual weirdos.” His eyes widen a little.

Teeple, 21, is seated on the floor of bassist Brendan Dulohery’s midtown apartment. Dulohery, 20, and drummer Frazier Krohn, 18, are nearby on a vintage couch upholstered in obnoxious, orange-and-yellow-flowered fabric. On the wall above them is the sparse apartment’s only artwork: a salvaged piece of cardboard bearing the logo for the ID brand of personal lubricant. On the windowsill, wine bottles have been converted into candle holders. The TV is paused, Louis C.K.’s face frozen during an episode of Louie.

The Fog’s first album, Darkness USA, bears out Teeple’s testimony. It’s a confounding piece of work, with 10 songs sliding back and forth on a lengthy spectrum from shimmery (“Dog Mouth”) to sludgy and dirt-packed (“Carrots”). There are wild time-signature changes. There’s noise. Teeple’s voice — not beautiful, not antagonistic — wails over manic drums and screeching guitars. Yet nearly every song centers on a charming, even melody. The chaos makes its own odd sense.

“I think a lot of the time, it’s a game of trying to do as much as possible with bass, guitar and drums because we’re so firmly a three-piece,” Teeple says. “It’s exciting to see how ridiculous we can make things sound. We want it to be as maximalist as possible.”

“Yeah,” Dulohery agrees. “Almost to compensate for the stripped-down lineup, I definitely think we’re trying to do as much as possible with the limited resources. So we’re going into half time and double time and doing these weird chord changes.”

Krohn shifts on the couch. “At the same time, we’re not a math-rock band,” he says, peering at Ian over the top of his glasses. “We don’t sit there and write it out to a T. A lot of it is improv. We might come up with these cool riffs and then stitch them together.”

Not that the Fog is ignorant of music making’s technical aspects. Krohn and Dulohery first played together in their high school jazz band, and both went on to the University of Missouri–Kansas City’s Conservatory of Music and Dance. (Dulohery has since transferred to a different program; Krohn is a freshman.) Teeple, who played in a band called Palace Neapolitan with Dulohery before the Fog formed in September 2013, also plays in Metatone.

So the weirdness is a release, an antidote to formal structures. “The idea,” Teeple says, grinning, “is to be totally freaked out and have full intensity and full volume.”

That approach suits Jeff McCoy fine. The founder and owner of High Dive Records first encountered the Fog last summer, when Teeple sent him a handful of tracks.

“I listened, and I was super-impressed,” McCoy says. “I told him I really liked the tracks, and he said he had a full album — and I actually really loved the whole record. The songs are structured really well, with just crazy guitar and drums and bass and a lot of racket for three kids. I don’t think there’s a lot of other bands that sound like them, especially not around here. There’s a lot of good content coming out of that group.”

To McCoy, though, the Fog isn’t a bunch of weirdos. It’s a disciplined and well-prepared band. The songs were ready, he says, and so was the album’s artwork, and so was a plan to tour. (The band hits the road for a week in March, while Krohn and Dulohery are out of class for spring break.) McCoy helped the Fog do a digital and a tape release for Darkness USA in December, and almost immediately, the group started organizing the next step. That includes a 7-inch follow-up to Darkness USA, out on High Dive Records this summer.

“They’re very young guys,” McCoy says, “but they’re just a lot further along than a lot of other bands would be, especially on the songwriting side of things. And they’re kind of wide-eyed about the whole situation. They’re not jaded about the ups and downs of trying to get someone to appreciate your art. They have an idea of the direction they want to go. To me, that makes me think they’ve got staying power.”