Evan Caminiti

Evan Caminiti is a California-based experimental musician with a focus on processed and prepared guitar. Co-founder of the psychedelic drone duo Barn Owl and additionally active as half of the duo Higuma, he's released nearly a dozen solo efforts since 2007. While earlier albums such as 2012's Night Dust concentrated on expansive guitar-based compositions recalling ambient music as well as shoegaze, Caminiti incorporated synthesizers into subsequent works such as 2015's Meridian and 2020's Varispeed Hydra.Caminiti began the arid improvisational duo Barn Owl with like-minded guitarist Jon Porras in 2006. While recording, performing, and touring with Barn Owl, Caminiti also began the similarly drony Higuma with vocalist Lisa McGee, exploring familiarly hazy guitar textures augmented by McGee's submerged, gothy vocals. Caminiti began a foray into solo material with the 2007 CD-R Buried Light, which was issued on cassette by Digitalis in 2008. This was followed by the 2009 CD-R Digging the Void (Students of Decay) and proper full-length Psychic Mud Shrine, also on Digitalis. The album featured Caminiti's signature sprawling guitar experimentation and was followed by 2010's West Wind and 2011's more soundtrack-sounding When California Falls into the Sea. The instrumentalist had a productive year in 2012 with the release of two albums, Night Dust and Dreamless Sleep. These nocturnal affairs featured experimentation with cassette four-track and dubbed-out minimal shoegaze guitar tones. He also released a self-titled cassette as Painted Caves on his own Dust Editions imprint. In 2013, the Australian label Preservation issued a split cassette by Caminiti and Texan new age legend J.D. Emmanuel, and Shelter Press released Painted Caves' Surveillance LP. Caminiti refocused his energies on exploring the production and musical possibilities of synthesizer-based compositions. The end result, Meridian, was released by Thrill Jockey in 2015. This was followed by 2017's Toxic City Music on Dust Editions. Unlike his previous album, this one featured guitar, but utilized it in a much different manner than on his previous recordings. Three years later, he released the dub-influenced electro-acoustic album Varispeed Hydra.
© Fred Thomas & Paul Simpson /TiVo