TRØN & DVD — Afraid Of The Dark

Available from Kiam Records – Limited to 300 copies. First 100 sold are red, the rest black.

TRØN & DVD (brothers Norvin and Darian Van Dunk) have been making mixtapes, EPs, and solo albums since 2009.  They’ve played the Bamboozle,Vans Warped Tour and CMJ Music Festivals as well as numerous shows alongside a diverse assortment of hip-hop and rock acts – from Pusha T to K. Flay to Twenty One Pilots.

Afraid of the Dark is an ambitious and furiously creative coming of age story about two brothers.  And it’s a true story, one that keeps a keen focus on family life, the importance of being an individual, and the pursuit of a dream.  It explores the struggle to navigate and balance it all, seen through the specific lens of being young black men in America.

Musically, the album sets the average bounce meter in the area of 95 bpm, with heavy kick drums and gurgling, fuzzy synths pushed straight into the foreground.  Lyrically, hints of formation, revitalization, and new life bubble up through every verse. The duo’s focus is often somewhere in the distance, with a hard look at the challenges in front of them; other times it drifts to the pull of old habits as well the minutiae of everyday challenges such as how to keep your writing light on without waking the baby.  This attention to detail is an important part of what makes Afraid of the Dark so compelling.  It’s one of the rare albums that reveal lyrical layers with every listen.