The forthcoming Desert Liminal album Black Ocean in many ways represents a continuation of this process. With the outfit now cemented as a trio, Linehan joins Quillin as a songwriter and vocalist, grounding the nascent sense of collaboration and connection which emerged on Glass Fate as a core facet of Desert Liminal. A development which is thematically resonant too, the record exploring ways in which death can be faced communally, and grief transmuted into something affirming and meaningful. Chicago’s DIY scene carried Quillin through the worst experiences, and Black Ocean looks to distil this experience into its purest form.

The resulting songs often seem like love letters to the people in these communities. Those figures who stood next to you through the best and worst of times. Fittingly, lead single ‘Kid Detroit’ is addressed to Logan himself, a nostalic recollection of those years on tour together, even when both were decimated by loss. “It’s funny to miss the times when you were younger and a total wreck,” as Quillin puts it. Something the vocals reference with a certain wry fondness. “Didn’t we tour in the Driftless?” the song asks. “Gone darker than a Midwest bar / Rolled in with the tide of my ego slight / Always stuck in my own blue thought.” But if Black Ocean is about anything, it is that no-one need be stuck in their blue thoughts alone. ‘Kid Detroit’ is the first example of how a bleak experience can be melted down and recast as something precious.

The post Desert Liminal – Kid Detroit appeared first on Various Small Flames.