Darsombra

Baltimore, MD's Darsombra, who dub themselves "transcendental rock," consider themselves an audio-visual project, with the shifting, dream-like imagery of Ann Everton working in conjunction with Brian Daniloski's music. Therefore, merely listening to the three vast, swirling tracks that form Climax Community feels like only receiving half of their message, as the visual element that's such a keystone to their live performance is absent. What remains, however, is a vibrant, verdant, hallucinatory sonic experience that's as much about the internal journey as it is inner ecology. Two concepts define the album: balance and friction. While every aspect of the record is perfectly weighted against everything else, giving it a pervasive sense of serenity that mirrors that of a pristine natural environment, that doesn't mean there aren't spikes of activity or moments of distress. The larger movements of the songs rub against each other with tectonic weight, while subtler elements attack, defeat and consume. Strange and lovely, Climax Community speaks in the language of animal instinct.