Night Verses

Night Verses emerged with a dense post-rock aesthetic that first drew notice from emo and metalcore listeners upon the 2012 arrival of their opening EP, Out of the Sky. Guitarist Nick DePirro, bassist Reilly Herrera, drummer Aric Improta, and vocalist Douglas Robinson comprised the lineup responsible for that EP, as well as the 2013 album Lift Your Existence and the 2016 release Into the Vanishing Light. After Robinson exited in 2017, the remaining musicians chose to proceed as an instrumental trio, a configuration documented on the 2018 album From the Gallery of Sleep.

DePirro, Herrera, and Improta had already spent ten years collaborating in various groups throughout the L.A. scene when they united in 2012 to establish the band’s original quartet. During their subsequent stretch as an instrumental three-piece, they encountered Robinson, previously the frontman of post-hardcore act the Sleeping, who expressed interest in working together after catching one of their performances. The musicians adjusted their approach to incorporate vocals and began sessions with producer Kris Crummett that yielded the self-released EP Out of the Sky. Easy Killer Records later signed the group, resulting in the 2013 appearance of their first full-length, Lift Your Existence.

Those initial recordings, distinguished by Robinson’s emotive vocal style, merged post-rock instrumental prowess with emo-inflected themes. The same balance reached a peak on the third album, Into the Vanishing Light, produced by Rob Robinson and issued in 2016. Ahead of that record came the single “A Dialogue in Cataplexy,” while the LP itself ventured further into darker, experimental territory through the addition of live electronics and extended instrumental passages.

Robinson left Night Verses in 2017. Rather than recruit a replacement vocalist, the other members returned to their instrumental foundation and concentrated once more on wordless music. Their first output in this renewed format was the 2018 EP Copper Wasp, which emphasized sweeping, densely atmospheric textures, lengthy solos, and rhythmically elaborate constructions. That same direction received fuller realization on the subsequent full-length From the Gallery of Sleep, which appeared later in 2018 and incorporated every track from Copper Wasp along with the single “Phoenix IV: Levitation.”