Kevin Bronson on September 24th, 2012

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So the bullet points tell us that Nick Campbell and James DeDakis have piled up a lot of miles (and some substantial credits) en route to Los Angeles. The duo, who make music as Wages, have been part of widely respected acts such as Arizona, Fan Modine and Lovett. Wages’ forthcoming EP “Shady Chamber” was made at two studios in North Carolina prior to the duo’s moving to L.A. eight months ago. What those factoids don’t reveal is the power of “Shady Chamber,” which Campbell says was inspired in part by his witnessing Jonsi perform. Wages’ reverb-heavy, pitch-shifted soundscapes suggest remote places filmed with smudged lenses, hazy and beautiful, amorphous and then not, seemingly accidentally artful. Post-rock, with a narrator.

||| Download: “Unity”

||| Live: Campbell is currently assembling the L.A. version of Wages’ live band, but in the meantime he is mounting a “conceptual sound installation” on Oct. 20 at Machine Project. To get an idea of what one man can do with guitars and fishing line, check out this video for “Pull Through.”

Photo by Cyril Besnard