An Evening Redness share atmospheric doom epic, “Black Flame at the Edge of the Desert”
On February 25, drone-doom duo An Evening Redness release their self-titled debut via Transylvanian Recordings. The project of multi-instrumentalist Brandon Elkins and vocalist Bridget Bellavia have already released one track from the album thus far, “Mesa Skyline.” And today, they’ve shared another track, “Black Flame at the Edge of the Desert.” It’s a gorgeously spacious track that finds the lonesome twang of pedal steel intersecting with more abrasive winds of dark ambient and doom metal, Bellavia’s vocals offering a wispy, wordless guide through its spacious atmosphere toward some more electric guitar soloing and eventually a more thunderous climax halfway through. It’s a lot of song, with a lot of all ideas, all covered in a fine layer of dust and clay—evoking the very Cormac McCarthy-inspired landscape that informs their songwriting.
Elkins says of the track in a statement, “’That which exists without my knowledge, exists without my consent.’ ‘Black Flame’ was meant, from its conception, to refract the hallucinatory and violent nature of the ending of ‘Blood Meridian’. The final paragraph depicts the character of the Judge, madly pirouetting, rampant in his violence and delusion, accompanied by music of his own making. While the track is initially beautiful, with a lilting pedal steel melody and Bridget Bellavia’s breathy vocals held in place by the swinging and lyrical drums Ryan Jewell provided. The bridge between beauty and madness is the stunning AOR-styled solo from Brendan Sloan. The descent is slow and inexorable, with no recovery from madness in sight.”
Listen to An Evening Redness’ “Black Flame at the Edge of the Desert” below.
Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.