New Best Kept Secret: Dark Circles

Latest pick of cool emerging artist in our ongoing collaboration with Sonicbids.

By Fred Mills

The BLURT staff put our heads (and ears) together and we have the latest pick for our Blurt/Sonicbids "Best Kept Secret": it's Dark Circles, from Nashville, Tenn., our 17^th BKS selection since commencing the program of spotlighting new and under-the-radar artists back in 2008.

It's always risky to quote directly from a band's own bio, but in this case the description they provided us was what caught our attention in the first place and prompted us to investigate more closely (musicians, there's a lesson in there somewhere): "A woozy melange of pop styles, from the sunshine harmonies of Brian Wilson, to Joni Mitchell's jazzy meditations, to the retro-pop groove of Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66; all shaded in deep blue undertones."

Dark Circles is essentially Celeste Millius (vocals, acoustic guitar) and Pat Millius (guitars, keyboards, percussion). Both have extensive musical backgrounds; Celeste grew up in New York and started performing early on, including a stint with the group Downgirl. Pat's from LA and has been in numerous outfits, among them the improvisational Sunz of Zorro and garage/punk outfit Dave. They later gravitated to Nashville of all places, and earlier this year they released their debut album as Dark Circles, One Golden Day, currently available via CD Baby. Deep blue indeed.

We'll have an interview with the band posted to the site shortly in which we let them fill you in on all this and more. Meanwhile, check out their official website or MySpace page for additional details as well as song samples. They're one of the good ‘uns, trust us.

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Bands, go to www.sonicbids.com/blurtonline to submit and have us review your materials for feature consideration.

>Our November ‘08 Best Kept Secret: The Handcuffs, from Chicago.

>Our December Best Kept Secret: Black Swan Green, from Brooklyn

>Our January 2009 Best Kept Secret: stephaniesI­d, from Asheville

>Our March Best Kept Secret: Polly Mackey & the Pleasure Principle, from England

>Our June Best Kept Secret: Wiretree, from Austin

>Our August Best Kept Secret: Bulletproof Vests, from Memphis

>Our November Best Kept Secret: The Vivs, from Boston

>Our January 2010 Best Kept Secret: The Public Good, from D.C.

>Our February Best Kept Secret: Dirty Dancing, from Austin

>Our April Best Kept Secret: Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents, from Boston

>Our June Best Kept Secret: The Rebel Set, from Phoenix

 >Our August Best Kept Secret: Alice Austin, from Los Angeles

>Our October 2010 Best Kept Secret: Doug McCurry, from Charlotte

>Our January 2011 Best Kept Secret: Drunken Prayer, from Portland

>Our April 2011 Best Kept Secret: Preachers Son, from Dublin, Ireland

>Our June 2011 Best Kept Secret: Butter, from Durham, NC