New Music Discovery: Doom Lagoon

By Eric McKeefer
Local Music Journalist

It is always a treat to discover new music unexpectedly. Not just a new band with the same old sound, but rather a stumbled upon band with something completely new, despite having the same limitations as any other artists on stage. Doom Lagoon from Ohio was that band Saturday night at The Electric Church.

An unfortunately empty night at the psychedelic palace was gifted with this raw encounter of another kind. The instrumentation included drums, bass, keys, guitar and saxophone. At different points in the set, one of the players would grab their mic and start singing, but there was no defined lead singer or front man. The mostly instrumental quintet lived somewhere between jam band and fake jazz with prog like changes and a hint of clean neo-psyche influence. After a very long soundcheck, Doom Lagoon began to improvise vocals over a jam and sing about how cool Austin and The Electric Church has been to them. At this point the room felt awkward and unsure of this quirky band from out of town.

Doom Lagoon then began to lay into the jams, crossing and fusing many styles of rock in each song. The vocals as mentioned earlier are sung by different members around the stage and were never really spectacular. The vocal mixes were pretty dry and clear, but lacked the tone quality and power produced by each other instrument. With that being said, the songs and performance was quite entertaining and refreshingly unconventional. The crowd energy built throughout the set and by the people were really digging it. One of the last few songs played, “Red Lights,” was really cool and has one of those great hooks you keep thinking about till the next morning. Overall they were out of the blue, not easy to define, and quite entertaining to watch. If you love not knowing what’s coming next in music, this is one band you’ll surely want to check out.

Featured photo by Eric McKeefer.