Brooklyn via Cleveland duo Opal Onyx have been slow cooking since their 2010 genesis, rising up through the basements and lofts of NYC, and reaching symphonic heights on their upcoming full-length debut Delta Sands. Out next month on Tin Angel Records – a Coventry, UK-based folk-heavy label run by Richard Guy (not Guy Richie :/), band members Sarah Nowicki and Matthew Robinson introduce a new bloodline to the UK label. Though there are folk elements shared within – Matt boasts cello and lapsteel – Opal Onyx crawls in an electronic dirge, surreal and distant, previously unseen in co-roster artists like jazz-forward experimenter Polar Bear (2005 Mercury Prize nominee) or folk champ Devon Sproule (who’s 2007 album Keep Your Silver Shined saw much critical praise).
*And to be clear, there is no disdain for Tin Angel’s lineup outside Opal Onyx, more the variety creates a multi-demential platform for growth and I ‘effing love buffets*
The lead track of Delta Sands, weightless in body, “Black and Crimson” nests within the likes of Run DMT/Salvia Plath’s Bong Voyage, the soundtrack era of Karen O, and the varied influences the duo laid out in a March pre-Europe tour podcast for Tin Angel (who’s name comes from Richard’s cafe in Coventry which – I think – got it’s name from the sole release of highly influential blues-folk duo Odetta & Larry). And it looks like Opal Onyx added a third member, Heidi Sabertooth who flies her cherub around as 100 milkteeth, among others, composing electroacoustic temperaments and denouncing the socioeconomic constructs of a two-piece band.
Delta Sands is out August 23.
• Opal Onyx: http://opalonyx.net
• Tin Angel: http://www.tinangelrecords.co.uk
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