Darker Lighter is the solo indie rock project of Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Salar Rajabnik, previously a trusted guitar tech and associate for giants such as Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, and Kim Gordon. His eponymous debut album contains twelve dynamic and layered songs that both lyrically and musically come across as incredibly bountiful, confident and majestic, but which are written in and among devastation: “Reflections on losing loved ones abruptly, broken hearts, deep traumas to do with identity and isolation, refusal to compromise one’s identity, and political dissidence are all present. (…) Still, more than anything, the central notion present in all of the songs is a sense of earnestness around getting across a message of fighting to retain hope in the face of tragedy.” This is a melodic and meaningful record, in which identity and emotion echo in a relentless sound. Brilliant.
The self-titled Darker Lighter album, produced by Salar Rajabnik & Robert Adam Stevenson, is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Salar Rajabnik Music / Mishi Records. All songs written, arranged and performed—vocals, acoustic & electric & 12 string & bass guitars, drums, keyboards, piano, synthesizers, Mellotron, percussion, string arrangement, programming, loops—by Salar Rajabnik.