Growing for Progressive Electronic

Growing are an American progressive electronic duo from Brooklyn, New York. Originally based in Olympia, Washington, the group began in 2001 as the vision of Chicagoan Joe DeNardo and Californian Kevin Doria, two Evergreen University students who consolidated their existing projects 1000 A.D. and Black Man White Man Dead Man under one moniker. Moving away from the hardcore punk and meandering jams of their earlier work, Growing instead explored slow, textural drone-metal via processed electric guitar and bass, heavily inspired by Earth's legendary 1993 sophomore album, and were guided in their formative years by their serendipitous roommate Joe Preston (aka Thrones and former Earth and Melvins collaborator). Blurring the line between post-rock and kraut-derived ambient electronics, Growing were described by Aquarius Records as a theoretical meeting of the minds between Fripp & Eno and Earth "or Tony Conrad playing with a stripped-down Kinski," with Arthur magazine dubbing them "life metal" years before the 2019 LP by kindred spirits Sunn O))).

Growing began their eleven-LP run with 2003's The Sky's Run Into the Sea and 2004's The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light, both released on Kranky; the former featured drummer and DeNardo's Thin the Herd label co-owner Zack Carlson, who departed Growing after their debut. DeNardo and Doria continued to refine their restless kosmische drift across a number of subsequent labels, issuing several handfuls of additional singles, EPs and live recordings. Rhythm and glitch gradually entered their sonic palette, culminating in 2010's stylistic detour PUMPS!, a work more in debt to Black Dice and Pan Sonic, recorded once again as a trio with the temporary addition of I.U.D.'s Sadie Laska the year before.

After a lull of several years in which DeNardo and Doria lived on opposite ends of the USA, the two eventually reconvened in Brooklyn and digitally released a new LP, Disorder, in 2016, before it was ultimately issued on vinyl by Important Records the following year. The album found Growing drop the beats and return to their roots, this time with a healthy influence from Doria's solo drone project Total Life. As of this writing, Growing's most recent full-length, 2021's Gainer, is a collaboration with ambient harpist Mary Lattimore.

Similar artists in the archives include Emeralds, Mountains, Spacemen 3, Windy & Carl, Labradford and Expo '70.

"The Sky's Run Into the Sea" (2003)

"The Soul of the Rainbow and the Harmony of Light" (2004)

"His Return" (2005)

"Color Wheel" (2006)

"Vision Swim" (2007)

"Lateral" EP (2007)

"Disorder" (2015)

"Diptych" (2021)