The history of bands to come out of Bremerton is pretty awful downright abysmal. Since William Bremer sold the prime real estate in town to the gummint in 1891 so they could build a shipyard, the hardscrabble hamlet has only produced a small, shitty hardcore scene, Ben Gibbard's whiny, morose Deathcab For Cutie, and the pure listening hell that is MxPx's chipmunk punk.

But, lo, behold Dear Darkness: a ragged sounding garage-rock trio led by my old school chum Billy. Billy is that dude who refuses to take anything (including pedagogical professors) seriously. He and I spent a few ferry rides back and forth to Seattle during our school days talking a little about art and design, and a lot about music. What I didn't know is that he fronted a kickass rock band.

Mushy, chord driven, electric guitar is the perfect accompaniment to Billy's voice, reminiscent of Joe Strummer's gravelly, singing-from-the-guts vocals. What's great about their demo (besides all of the not-suckiness) is the relentless pace the rhythm section keeps. Even with its lo-fi, amateur recording it delivers; pulling from folk and punk alike, these dudes have put together eight hellacious tracks about shame, sex, love, and the lack thereof. Here's to hoping they get some gigs outside of Bremerton soon.

Give their demo a whirl over at Bandcamp.