Growing

Over the past couple of years and albums, the Olympia, WA-based duo of Joe DeNardo and Kevin Doria have been droning out heavy ambience as Growing, and making waves while they do it. Never ones to shy away from their own artistic evolution, or pay straight-up homage to the other groups they admire, Color Wheel captures Growing in full creative flight, moving slightly away from their now-standard long-form drone quests into bouncier delay-laden territories not too far off the course from Black Dice’s Beaches and Canyons and Creature Comforts. But flowing beneath the head-nods and sound-cops is Growing’s inescapable essence, best expressed in Color Wheel’s longest offering, the 16-minute "Blue Angels”: fluttering walls of mellowed-out guitar and bass feedback that shake and rattle the very fabric of your being into a state not that far away from Nirvana. A duo (paired down from the trio they began as) who seem to possess no shortage of ambition and drive, Color Wheel captures Growing at the height of their mystique, peaking out on the mountain before turning their attention to what lies on the other side. It seems only good things will be coming from Growing’s anticipated future.