sunnbrella

Sunnbrella formed in Seattle in 1998, with Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson starting the project. They named themselves after a type of tropical fabric, which felt like a fit for the heavy, immersive sound they were developing. Their music pulls from doom metal, noise, and drone, creating long, slow-moving pieces that can feel both sheltering and unsettling.

One of their tracks, "Fever Dream," gives a sense of what they do, layers of distortion and feedback that build into something massive and hypnotic. They've kept at it for years, putting out records that don't really follow conventional song structures, just these deep, droning soundscapes. In 2009, their live set at Australia's Big Day Out festival drew attention after reports that the intense strobe lights and piercing frequencies caused some audience members to have seizures or panic attacks, which sparked talk about how far a performance should go.

They've never seemed too concerned with what critics or listeners expect from heavy music. The work is more about immersion than hooks, and they've stuck with that approach across their catalog.