Darsombra Post “Mellow Knees” Video
Since first encountering the title “Mellow Knees” on Darsombra‘s 2023 album, Dumesday Book (review here), I’ve made the phrase a part of my personal lexicon. That is to say, on a personal level, I aspire toward ‘mellow knees.’ If you’ve ever done yoga — and I’m pretty sure Darsombra‘s Brian Daniloski is certified to lead your class if you haven’t — it’s the kind of idea you might encounter there as gentle encouragement not to be kicking your own ass while forcing your body into a pose in some way it doesn’t want to go. I like yoga. I like Darsombra. And I have knee problems. Such confluence of interest and circumstance is rare.
Will “Mellow Knees” put the mellow in your knees? It might. It’s a rain-on-the-windshield tour through highway Americana. Some roads you’ve seen, some just in videos like this one, and some you don’t know. I’m pretty sure that, like George Washington, they cross the Chesapeake, which is fitting for a Baltimorean band to include. “Mellow Knees” is the sixth clip to come from Dumesday Book, and this isn’t quite a premiere, but it isn’t quite not either. You might recall exactly one year ago it was “Everything is Canceled” being unveiled. The band’s situation, with the loss this Fall of Ann Everton (synth, vocals, percussion, projections), who made this video as part of an ongoing project for the whole record, is obviously different than it was a year ago today.
Daniloski, who is the lone remaining member and founder of Darsombra (which began 20 years ago), is posting the video in Everton‘s honor today, Dec. 30, and has recently announced the initial lineup for Transmission (posted here), which will be a two-day festival Feb. 28 and March 1, also dedicated to Ann‘s memory. Of course, that context, and thinking of the Dumesday Book visual album as unfinished, brings grief into the context of the video’s arrival, but as you watch the two-and-a-half-minute twisty droner, slow your brain down if you can and take in the footage you’re seeing. This country is home to some of the most beautiful landscapes on this planet. Environmentally and aesthetically, that’s worth preserving.
If you need me, I’ll be over here trying to mellow out my knees so I don’t end up with a mellow cortisone shot into the bone. Thus harshing the mellow.
Enjoy the clip:
Darsombra, “Mellow Knees” official video
“Mellow Knees” by DARSOMBRA from the album Dumesday Book
2023 Pnictogen Records
Filmed and edited by Ann Everton
In loving memory of Ann Everton
This video was completed in 2024. It is the ending sequence of what was supposed to be the Dumesday Book video album. Ann wanted to create a video for every song on the 75 minute album and have them all connect its pandemic-tymes storyline, from when we were all told to “Shelter in Place” in spring 2020, to its conclusion about a year or so later, which, for Darsombra and this video, meant being able to leave our home to go back out on the road and tour again. She had completed videos for over half of the album, including this one, before her passing in October 2025.
Confirmed locations:
Black Willow Siphon – Oregon
White Mountains – New Hampshire
Badlands National Park – South Dakota
Joshua Tree National Park – California
Factory Butte – Utah
Death Valley – California
Maryland
Diablo Canyon – New Mexico
US Pacific Northwest
Unconfirmed locations:
Colorado and/or Montana and/or Canada
US Pacific Northwest and/or Atlantic Northeast
Four Corners US
Florida Keys
Pennsylvania
Tabernacle Hill Lava Tubes – Utah
and other places
Darsombra, Dumesday Book (2023)
Darsombra, “Shelter in Place” official video
Darsombra, “Gibbet Lore” official video
Darsombra, “Call the Doctor” official video
Darsombra, “Nightgarden” official video
Darsombra, “Everything is Canceled” official video
Pnictogen Records on Instagram
Tags: Baltimore, Crucial Blast, Darsombra, Maryland, Pnictogen Records
