You’ve got it all wrong. 

The insomniac isn’t unable to sleep, the insomniac CHOOSES to evade sleep. We all fall down at some point, but between the waking world and our dreams exists the surreal. 

Some of the world’s most creative visionaries such as Dalí and Edison would hold an object, such as a spoon or a ball, while falling asleep in a chair. As they drifted off, the object would fall, make a noise and wake them up. Having spent a few moments on the brink of unconsciousness, they would be ready to start their work. 

Such is Insomniac. A band that exists between this world and the next.   

If EGO mattered we’d tell you this band features members of Zoroaster, Hank the Third, Deceased, The Buzzards of Fuzz, and Brass Knuckle Surfer.  If ID mattered we’d tell you this band is here to guide you on an aural trip through your mind’s peaks and valleys to find your true self. But since nothing matters we’ll tell you that here exists something new, unique, and incomparable.  A band that made the music they wanted to hear because it needed to exist. 

What you choose to do with this information is your choice alone – but I wouldn’t sleep on it. 

Insomniac’s debut album, Om Moksha Ritam, comes on quietly at first. Like billowing storm clouds scraping across a foreboding sky, the opening “Meditation” bursts open with droning rhythms. “Mountain,” “Forest,” “Desert,” and “Sea” invoke the cinematic imagery of Ennio Morricone’s spaghetti western film scores, steeped in late-night ambiance. Each song sways between delicate intimacy and glacial crescendos of ambiance, distortion, and trance-like vocal mantras that peak in the “Awakening,” gliding with intensity through the subconscious. If the end is nigh, Om Moksha Ritam is an immersive hymn calling down the mystical and forbidden forces that separate a dreaming mind from the waking world. — Chad Radford (Creative Loafing, Rough Draft Atlanta)

Photo Credit: David Parham 2024 Insomniac LtR Juan Garcia (Bass Guitar) / Mike Morris (Guitar, Vocals) / Van Bassman (Vocals) / Amos Rifkin (Percussion, Vocals) / Alex Avedissian (Guitar)