Johnnytwentythree

Detail: Ghostly. Think of handmade shadow pictures on the wall of a lowly lit, hazy, yellowish room. Around town, a similar elusive air, a secretive, slightly strange rumor surrounds Johnnytwentythree. Buzz is that they're exceedingly artistic and somewhat mysterious in a lovely, odd, peaceful way. Blurry, yes.

Here's the real group: Brianne Maier (violin), Imwalle (film and video), Joe Maier (bass guitar), Brian Tyree (drums, keys) and Michael Maier (electric guitar). Together, they rock out mood-driven tunes using effects, visual projections and more.

In the late '90s, Imwalle, Joe and Michael Maier played as the trio, Halo, with Imwalle on drums. When Brianne Maier and Tyree joined in 2002, the five became Johnnytwentythree; the name is a reference to a William Burroughs' short story that "focuses on the creative and destructive potential of humanity," Imwalle says. "This dichotomy is reflected in much of our work."

Using visuals, J23 creates a dualistic live performance style and accompanying video is included inside the CD package as well. Imwalle says, "Over time, the images have taken on the role of our 'front person,' something that worked itself out naturally since most of our songs, up to this point, have been instrumental. We do have songs with vocals and if the moment presents itself, we'll write songs with vocals. At this point in time, with this album, there hasn't been any urgency on our part to add them into the mix."

Thickly layered with a cinematic sound, the songs have been labeled "epic Post Rock." But Imwalle says, "The films and music co-evolved ... we make triumphant Rock & Roll music. We're epic. Paul Oldham calls it 'breaking the tape' music. It's that moment when a runner first crosses the finish line to break the tape. I think that encapsulates the exhilarating feeling we get from performing and it's certainly what we want to elicit in our audience. Of course there's darkness in our work as well -- but you can't appreciate the light without experiencing the darkness."