DRLNG (pronounced darling) is a new project featuring former members of Boston dreampop act Plumerai. On December 16, 2014 they released their debut EP Icarus. The four-song EP was recorded at Mystic Valley Studios and features songs mixed and mastered to vinyl in 100-percent analog environments. No computers were used in the recording of this album. The 12-inch vinyl is limited to 300 copies.

DRLNG hails from New York and Paris, thus, they tip their hats to a variety of influences such as Seventeen Seconds era Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bjork, and Ella Fitzgerald. By employing minimal overdubs, the band has successfully crafted music that relies on unique songwriting abilities. Band members include Eliza Brown (vocals), Martin Newman (guitars), James Newman (bass) and Mickey Vershboe (drums). Brown’s croon and the dreamy soundscapes of the rest of the band create a sound that is recognized as their own.

Have a listen to the title track below.

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“Icarus” by DRLNG

Jonathon Trevillien is an Australia-based singer-songwriter and guitarist. His latest release is a collection of recordings made from December 2010 to June 2013 on the Blackall Range — a mountain range in South East Queensland, Australia — and in Brisbane City. The collection is titled Nature is Drone, Drone is Nature. Additionally, his band Morelands released several singles in 2012.

Trevillien produces a beautifully balanced feel and tone with his Sadowsky Jim Hall model archtop guitar with flat wound strings. He says it sort of plays like a piano, if that makes any sense. He believes guitars are tools and a good tool with good intonation is the right one for the job. Trevillien was 12 when he started playing — “I played metal pretty well when I was 17, but I’d be rubbish at it now.”

Piano was his first instrument. It gave him a much deeper understanding of western music in the long run than if he had started off on the guitar. In order of appearance, the following guitarists were most influential in Trevellien’s playing: David Gilmour, Neil Young, Johnny Greenwood, Jim Hall, Bill Frisell, Peter Bernstein, Jack Rose, Aidan Baker, Ryan Francesconi, Mick Turner, Mississippi Fred McDowell.

Have a listen below to “The Drover” by Morelands and “Water” by Jonathon Trevillien below.

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“The Drover” by Morelands

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“Water” by Jonathon Trevillien

Jon Attwood started Yellow6 as a solo guitar project, initially inspired by space-post-rock, electronica and reverb soundscapes. Yellow6 has released nine official albums, a myriad of singles, and several compilations and remixes. There have been over 60 live shows in Europe and North America since 2001.

English post-rock band, Bark Psychosis, got Attwood interested in sounds rather than riffs and introduced a whole new way to play guitar. From there came experiments in drone guitar, cavernous reverbs and discovery of the still young world of post-rock. Attwood was at that time relatively unaware of the shoegaze roots of post-rock: Slowdive and Seefeel and Slint and Cocteau Twins, so he followed his own path slowly discovering others along the way, like Tortoise and Mogwai.

In October, Yellow6 released Closer To The Sea Without Moving. Have a listen to the track “Looking Back Towards The Sea” below.

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“Looking Back Towards The Sea” by Yellow6

Almost 20 years ago, Thorn1 signed to Silber Records as the label’s first signee. According to folks at Silber, the music is top-notch and embraces all the things they love like drone-pop, ambient, and lo-fi.

Hailing from Barnaul in Siberia, Thorn1 is Evgeny Zheyda. Recorded on a handheld voice recorder, acoustic guitars are manipulated into epic walls and pencil taps on a desk become amazing drums. The music mixes lo-fi-pop, post-rock, shoe-gaze, and dub for his own take on drone-pop. His newest release, The Light of Random Star, showcases the creativity that can come out of isolation. The track “Clearly and Consciously” showcases a broken heart turning into a victorious anthem.

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“Clearly and Consciously” by Thorn1

One of Norway’s best kept secrets, Origami Arktika, moves along the axis of time by using old Norwegian folk songs and folklore combined with modern inspiration and technology. The music on the new album, Absolut Gehör, is dim and melancholic. Led by vocalist Rune Flaten, there are seven other accomplished musicians whom, in this case, make deceptively little music. But, the sum of all the smaller or larger elements result in a unique musical landscape.

Origami Arktika is part of the Origami Republika (a Norwegian artists collective). A previous album was recorded at Einstürzende Neubauten’s studio (German industrial band from West Berlin) and one of the members has a Norwegian Grammy from another project. Thus, they have a pretty impressive pedigree.

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“Det Syng for Storegut” by Origami Arktika

Andrew Weathers is an accomplished experimental touring musician who just got his master’s degree in electronic music from Mills College. His latest project, They Turned the Heat On, is featured as one of Silber Media’s “five songs in five minute EPs” which are free to stream or $1 to download.

The recordings on this EP blend Weathers’ goals of both creative direction to his banjo playing, heading towards technical expertise associated with academia, and representing the inspiration and improvisation that is essential to art. The pieces were all recorded sitting on his bed in California waiting for the heat in his apartment to be turned on in hopes of warming his fingers.

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“The Weather in California is Nice” by Andrew Weathers