The Dark Fantastic

The Dark Fantastic shapes its atmospheric, spectral compositions from the sonic terrain of psychedelic desert rock. These tracks map both the struggles facing ordinary middle Americans and an immersion among rootless souls—lovers, drifters, and murderers—who move through towns and relationships without settling.

Mark Pickerel launched the project as a solo endeavor during his tenure as drummer for post-grunge outfit Truly, whose influential album Fast Stories From Kid Coma on Capitol Records helped shape the Northwestern sound. Following Truly’s final release, Feeling You Up, he recruited guitarist Jesse Roberts and bassist Mike Elkins in 1997 to expand the Dark Fantastic into a complete ensemble. Pickerel’s writing reflects extensive collaborations with leading Pacific Northwest musicians, among them Kurt Cobain, whose sessions appear on the Nirvana box set Ain’t It a Shame. The band’s self-titled 1999 debut blends elements of Pink Floyd and Echo and the Bunnymen into a brooding, restrained pop aesthetic while also nodding to Pickerel’s earlier psychedelic explorations with the Screaming Trees on Even If and Especially When and Buzz Factory, as well as his contributions to Mark Lanegan’s solo recordings. In 2000 he recorded with Jim Carroll and became a member of Neko Case and Her Boyfriends; traces of Case’s country style surface on the Dark Fantastic’s 2001 successor Goodbye Crooked Scar, where Pickerel’s Brian Wilson-style harmonies drift across an otherworldly journey fusing Eastern and Western influences.