Loma

A Lone Star State trio featuring Shearwater’s Jonathan Meiburg and Cross Record’s Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski, Loma emerged in 2018 with an eponymous debut that paired overcast post-rock with bucolic and baroque indie pop.
The seeds of Loma were sown in 2015 when Shearwater percussionist Thor Harris missed his regular gig to collaborate with Austin duo Cross Record on Wabi-Sabi, their debut album for Ba Da Bing. Knowing that Shearwater frontman Jonathan Meiburg would be interested in what Harris had been up to during his absence, label boss Ben Goldberg sent him a CD of the album. Meiburg, impressed by the young band’s music, invited them to tour with Shearwater, during which he became close friends with the duo of married couple Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski; they decided to write some songs together. Excited at what they had come up with, the trio recorded an album at Cross Record’s isolated home studio in the tiny town of Dripping Springs, Texas. The resulting material was released under the name Loma by Shearwater’s label Sub Pop in early 2018. Preceded by the haunting single “Black Willow,” the album incorporated elements from both its parent bands while indisputably creating its own sound. A second release that same year, The Rind in Your Mind, focused on guided meditation. Returning in mid-2020, Loma issued the spectral single “Ocotillo,” which appeared on the group’s sophomore full-length effort, Don’t Shy Away, later that year. ~ John D. Buchanan