Blood flows

“We never complain that it’s too dark,” says Timonium guitarist-vocalist Adam Hervey, discussing the band’s songwriting process in a recent phone interview.

When the band comes to Moxie’s (with Sacramento’s Electro Group) next Monday, Chico will come to understand Hervey’s statement firsthand. Timonium’s enthrallment with civilization’s dark places can be heard on its recent, third release, Until He Finds Us, which sees the band compositionally navigating the listener’s bloodstream like a cool, insistent morphine drip.

Timonium’s sound is deliberately patient, unfolding in gorgeous textures and fluid movements; drummer Adam Garcia emphasizes a sparse rhythmic advance as bassist Tracy Uba shares vocals with Hervey. The two vocalists strategically coax glazed whispers atop a stark, morose maze of nihilistic bliss. Timonium communicates its darkness elegantly, eschewing sound as a battering ram in favor of the unanticipated icy hand across a startled shoulder.

While the band may tip a share of the debt to forebears such as Slowdive and Galaxie 500 and peers Mogwai, what they convey is entirely unique and independent of the narrow genre politics of “indie rock.” Hervey reflects that not being part of a specific scene frees the band to be taken at face value. “There’s no baggage—I like that. We’re not part of a wave.”

While some bands may rely on the camaraderie and marketability of carrying whatever genre-specific label sells, a tentatively amused Hervey says, quite sincerely, "We’re alone in this world." And while he may be talking musical politics on the surface, his statement is the finest and most emotionally resonant account of the band’s music.