This article was featured in RVAMag #24: Spring 2016. You can read all of issue #24 here or pick it up at local shops around RVA right now.
My Darling Fury has lost a significant number of members since they released their last album, but they’ve carried on undaunted in their quest to create an even better followup. Now guitarless, the remaining trio has moved toward a more electronic sound for their new material, which is slated for A/O/K, the album the band crowdfunded with a PledgeMusic campaign last year. Latest single “Aches” gives a pleasant and intriguing preview of what’s to come for the new album, but with the group proceeding deliberately and taking their time to get everything perfect, we might still have a bit of a wait ahead of us before we hear the entire thing. Regardless, it’s sure to be worth it.
The Head And The Heart may have experienced a bit of a setback in the process of completing their third album. Recently the band announced that co-frontman Josiah Johnson will be sitting out their upcoming US tour due to struggles with addiction. As the band has been in the studio off and on for over half a year now, though, one can hope that recording proceeds on schedule. Having legendarily recorded their first album at home and sold the first 10,000 (!) copies as self-released CD-Rs before getting picked up by Sub Pop, this band has significant DIY credentials. However, photos released from recording sessions make clear that these guys are going for the deluxe treatment on this album. In a recent Facebook Q&A with drummer and RVA resident Tyler Williams, he revealed that the new album would offer “MORE” of everything fans have come to know and love from the band. “Fast songs. Slow songs. More beauty. More dirt,” he said. “It feels like we are stepping into our own shoes and I’m loving it.” Regardless of recent troubles, we definitely have something to look forward to.
Jazz-metal maniacs Dumb Waiter are prepared to unleash their follow-up to wild debut Is This Chocolate? on an unsuspecting RVA populace within the next few weeks, so get ready! Entitled Cancel Christmas, the album was, like its predecessor, recorded with producer/engineer Dave Watkins at Gallery 5. The band has worked very hard on this material; speaking to RVA Mag’s own Amy David, guitarist Nick Crider explained that “It took us about three years to write all the material and then another year and a half of recording.” Initial studio sessions began as far back as January 2014, so expect the album to show the excellent results of some painstaking craft. The release show has not been officially announced yet, but it should be coming anytime now, so keep an eye out!
