Biography
Dylan Carlson first rose to attention as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the pioneering drone doom outfit Earth before pursuing a productive path as a solo musician. Born in Seattle, Washington, he discovered music at age fifteen through bands such as Black Sabbath and AC/DC and would later name the Melvins as a key influence. After spending much of his childhood on the move because his father worked for the Department of Defense, Carlson assembled Earth in 1989 in Olympia, Washington, following meetings with Greg Babior, Slim Moon, Joe Preston, and Dave Harwell. The group’s first album, Earth 2, came out in 1993 on Sub Pop at the height of the grunge explosion. Although the music stood apart from grunge at the time, it later earned recognition for helping shape drone music. Carlson characterized the band’s low-frequency heavy riffs and slow-motion distorted repetition as ambient-metal. During those years he shared an apartment with Kurt Cobain; in 1998, after the Nirvana frontman’s death, Carlson appeared in Nick Broomfield’s documentary Kurt & Courtney, which examined theories that Cobain had been murdered, an appearance he would later regret.
Following the 1996 release of their third album, Pentastar: In the Style of Demons, Earth went on an extended hiatus largely because of Carlson’s personal difficulties, including heroin addiction. The band resurfaced in 2005 with Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method, which broadened its doom roots to embrace country influences. While still recording with Earth, Carlson launched a solo project under the name Drcarlsonalbion. In 2012 he issued La Strega & the Cunning Man in the Smoke, an album of six cover versions of traditional folk and contemporary songs that included his reading of PJ Harvey’s “Last Living Rose.” Embracing his Anglophile leanings and British/Scottish heritage, he again looked to the U.K. for Edward Kelly Blues. Field recordings made around Waterloo Station and the Thames at the Southbank made up the A-side, while the B-side featured Carlson on guitar and vocals with Robert Roth on Mellotron.
Working steadily, he next drew inspiration from American history. Gold began as the score for a film tracing German immigrants’ journey to the Northwest during the Klondike Gold Rush at the close of the nineteenth century. He followed that release with Falling with a Thousand Stars and Other Wonders from the House of Albion, a 2016 collaboration with Coleman Grey that explored English folklore. The 2017 joint album Concrete Desert teamed Earth with British experimental electronic artist the Bug, aka Kevin Martin, and Earth also put out a live album recorded at Jack White’s Third Man Studios in Nashville that year. In 2018 Carlson returned to American themes for Conquistador, his first album issued under his own name; an avid historian, he drew on the history of Texas and Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain for its five tracks.
Following the 1996 release of their third album, Pentastar: In the Style of Demons, Earth went on an extended hiatus largely because of Carlson’s personal difficulties, including heroin addiction. The band resurfaced in 2005 with Hex; Or Printing in the Infernal Method, which broadened its doom roots to embrace country influences. While still recording with Earth, Carlson launched a solo project under the name Drcarlsonalbion. In 2012 he issued La Strega & the Cunning Man in the Smoke, an album of six cover versions of traditional folk and contemporary songs that included his reading of PJ Harvey’s “Last Living Rose.” Embracing his Anglophile leanings and British/Scottish heritage, he again looked to the U.K. for Edward Kelly Blues. Field recordings made around Waterloo Station and the Thames at the Southbank made up the A-side, while the B-side featured Carlson on guitar and vocals with Robert Roth on Mellotron.
Working steadily, he next drew inspiration from American history. Gold began as the score for a film tracing German immigrants’ journey to the Northwest during the Klondike Gold Rush at the close of the nineteenth century. He followed that release with Falling with a Thousand Stars and Other Wonders from the House of Albion, a 2016 collaboration with Coleman Grey that explored English folklore. The 2017 joint album Concrete Desert teamed Earth with British experimental electronic artist the Bug, aka Kevin Martin, and Earth also put out a live album recorded at Jack White’s Third Man Studios in Nashville that year. In 2018 Carlson returned to American themes for Conquistador, his first album issued under his own name; an avid historian, he drew on the history of Texas and Darren Aronofsky’s The Fountain for its five tracks.
Albums
Singles
