Growing

Growing, a trio from the Seattle area (guitar, bass, keyboards), debuted with a confused collection of experimental works, The Sky's Run Into The Sea (Kranky, 2003): the 17-minute opener, A Painting, mutates (with no particular logic) from a sequence of drizzling new-agey guitar tones to a set of metallic drones; the 15-minute Life In D (possibly the highlight) is an ambient composition for guitar distortion in the vein of Seefeel that escalates to stoner-grade noise, then collapses in lenghty pauses of silence, then picks up strength with super-heavy guitar riffs; the 17-minute Pavement Rich in Gold is similarly uncertain on which course to follow, meandering from ambient stasis to acid chanting over Hendrix-ian guitar.

Pared down to the duo of Joe Denardo (guitar) and Kevin Doria (bass), Growing recorded The Soul Of The Rainbow And The Harmony Of Light (Kranky, 2004). The 18-minute introduction, Onement's modulated mantra-like drone, is the purest composition, classy background music. The celestial atmosphere of Primitive Associations mixes sounds of nature with processed guitar tones. The violent static of Anaheim II builds up a ferocious momentum, but doesn't take advantage of it. The 18-minute Epochal Reminiscence dilutes a traditional-sounding melody (eerily reminiscent of the USA national anthem) into a lengthy cycle of ear-piercing drones (a counterpart of sorts to Hendrix's orgy of glissandos at Woodstock 1969).
The problem is still one of development. One can marvel at a sonic idea for a few seconds, and maybe even a few minutes. But to marvel for five, ten or even fifteen minutes at a sound for the sake of its sound is not human.

The limited-edition 80-minute Live (Growing Sound, 2005) is a much better document of their slow-motion, massive Earth-style meltdown.

His Return (Megablade, 2005) was mainly notable for containing the lengthy space-rock juggernaut Wide Open.

Their adventures in post-psychedelic landscapes got even weirder on Color Wheel (Megablade, 2006), reaching new levels of folly in Fancy Period, that bridges extremely heavy textures and lighter electronic textures, the guitar-reverb sonata Peace Offering, the wall of guitar noise of Friendly Confines, and the dense hyper-dilated slowly-shifting 16-minute Blue Angels.

Vision Swim (Troubleman Unlimited, 2007) abandoned their signature droning music for a dynamic language of instrumental and digital effects, The 15-minute Onanon stands as the manifesto of their new style, sandwiched between guitar patterns and glitchy turbulence.

The EP Lateral (Social Registry, 2008) insists on their subliminal ambient droning soundscapes.

Growing shifted towards the busier digital soundsculpting style of the 2000s, partially abandoning the droning aesthetic, on All The Way (Social Registry, 2008), a typical transitional work.

Joe Denardo and Kevin Doria were joined by Sadie Laska on vocals and sampling on Pumps (Vice, 2010), another album in the new vein that highlighted how now the focus was on rhythm (although usually neither the usual "beat" of dance music nor the drumbeat of rock music). The overall feeling is one of disorienting machine music, more akin to Brian Eno's Before and After Science or Throbbing Gristle's DOA than to their droning roots.