About
In 2007, the Dark Water Hymnal quietly released a self-titled EP to a handful of independent record stores in Austin, TX. The instrumentation was stark, an occasional violin suspended over acoustic guitar, but the lyrics wove a lush, resonant narrative. The album eventually caught the attention of The Austin Chronicle who praised its “ominous beauty” and named it “among the year’s best folk debuts.”
Over the next two years, the band added members and broadened the sound, preserving the intimacy and restraint of the EP while shading in new depth. Their first full-length, As Above, So Below, drew humbling comparisons to Iron & Wine, Will Oldham and Sufjan Stevens as well as literary icons Cormac McCarthy and William Faulkner. This time, The Austin Chronicle lauded it as “exuding a refreshing purity” with “each song having a thorough line of emotional range,” while Austin Sound commended the record for its “lyrical prowess,” calling it a “triumph.”
Jeremy Ballard – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Andrea Couch – Vocals, Violin
Bryan Blanton – Drums
Mike Huebner – Electric Guitar, Bells
Brandon Bunch – Bass, Piano, Percussion
Collapse The Structure
In January, the band will release their second full-length, Collapse the Structure. The lineup has changed again slightly, but the growth of the band’s sound in such a short time is significant. Written over the course of six months and recorded in just two days, Collapse the Structure captures the restless intensity of an inspired burst of songwriting. The stillness in the firmament that marked the previous two records has given way to the breaking of a new day. The shift is one of luminosity and vibrancy, of urgency and immediacy. Shouted melodies glide over charging rhythms and dense, arcing arrangements. All the lights are on now, some so bright they seem on the verge of shattering.
Collapse the Structure was recorded by Ted Smith and mixed and mastered by Erik Wofford (Black Angels, Explosions in the Sky, Okkervil River) at Cacophony Recorders. Members of One Hundred Flowers and Polar Optimist lend their voices to a backing choir on two tracks, “Center of the Spark” and “Black Confetti.”
Regional touring is planned for the fall of 2010, and a short Midwest and Northeast tour is in the works for 2011.