Konzert / Rock & Experimental Barn owl

San Francisco’s duo BARN OWL (guitarists Evan Caminiti and Jon Porras, both raised in metal bands) followS in the footsteps of provocative avant-gardists Alice Coltrane and Keiji Haino, while building on the doom metal foundation planted by Black Sabbath. Porras and Caminiti started playing music together soon after meeting in an American Indian science class at San Francisco State in 2005 and realizing they had similar backgrounds playing in metal bands and a shared interest in meditative, psychedelic music. The two made home recordings for the latter half of the 2000s while pursuing a number of side projects. BARN OWL’s year of fruition proved to be 2010: as well as starting their own label, Electric Totem, the band released three albums — ​“Conjurer” on Rootstrata, ​“Headlands” on Important Records, and ​“Ancestral Star” after signing to Thrill Jockey. The band kept up its head of steam by touring internationally as well as kicking off 2011 with the 24-minute ​“Shadowland” EP. Now they are back with the aptly titled ​“V” on which the pair has pushed desert rock into previously unexplored, murky territories. They have augmented their arsenal of guitars and effects with an array of electronics, vastly expanding their new album’s sounds and textures.