Vaura

Vaura unites singer/guitarist Josh Strawn, guitarist Kevin Hufnagel, bassist Toby Driver, and drummer Charlie Schmid in an effort to offset metal’s exacting masculine drive with atmospheric textures and emotional shading that draw on feminine sensibilities. Their separate backgrounds in dark, heavy sounds prove distinct yet mutually reinforcing: Strawn and Schmid previously played in the dramatic rock band Religious to Damn, Hufnagel has appeared with Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, and Jarboe, and Driver’s résumé includes Kayo Dot and Tartar Lamb. The quartet’s first concert, held at New York City’s Lit in September 2011, revealed an elusive mixture of metal, prog, post-rock, shoegaze, and post-punk; that same impression deepened when Vaura opened for Junius and O’Brother on a string of early-2012 dates. Those shows occurred only weeks before Weird Records issued the band’s debut album Selenelion, recorded and mixed by Krallice’s Colin Marston.