Biography
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.”
On January 11, 2011, the band released 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. Fans of the group’s live show will recognize the insistence and directness that has earned them livelier, though no less humbling comparisons to contemporaries such as the Rural Alberta Advantage, Arcade Fire and the National. Regional touring is planned for the fall of 2010, and a short Midwest and Northeast tour is in the works for 2011.
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