The Public’s weekly local music reviews and previews. 

Album:  On The Verge by Damian  Recommended if you like:  Sparklehorse, Spacemen 3, The Mountain Goats

Folk artist Damian Weber has had his hand in many projects in the area, including as bassist of Difficult Night, as a producer of records, and even as a writer of stories. His band, Difficult Night recently released their album In a Blackhole at the Listening of Distant Harpers in the Dim Gloam of Evening.  Just as recently, a local band—The Velvet Bethany—released their album I Am Not Peace + Love But You Are Welcome, which was produced by Weber. Last year, the Buffalo-based artist released a novella titled Mr. Bush In Baseball, a fictional story about the 1994 baseball strike and George W. Bush.

As a songwriter, however, he’s never ignored his own solo work, frequently releasing EPs and singles. His latest work is a full album titled On The Verge under the name Damian. The 13 track record contains mostly minimal folk songs written on electronic guitar, occasionally broken up by the soft buzz of a synthesizer on songs like “Kimberly (Patti Smith),” and even the patter of a drum machine (“Those Dudes”). 

Most of the tracks capture the sound of a singer songwriter alone in his room with a guitar and maybe a loop pedal, others, like “All We Need is a Trigger” sound like they could easily be fleshed out into full band compositions, which indicate a flexibility to the project. 

In a description of the record, Weber thanks Brandon Schlia of Steak & Cake records, as well as Aaron Lowinger (editor at The Public) from whom, he says, he stole many of the impressionistic lyrics to the record. 

Other highlights include the intimate and charming first track, “Years Later” and the acoustic number “Evaporated (Fuck Up Morning). Damian’s record On the Verge is available to stream or download for free on Bandcamp.