Columbia's Drona, Kansas City's Danielle Nicole offer new Missouri music

After a killer 2023, Missouri musicians already are churning out great work in the early watches of 2024. Here's a brief look at new records from two artists familiar to Columbia.

Drona, "Sanguine Smiles"

Columbia rockers Drona keep treating listeners to the art of becoming.

With each project, released at an ambitious pace, the Raghu siblings inch closer to the ideals that cause any teenager — and these three, particularly — to form a band. At eight songs and a little more than 25 minutes, "Sanguine Smiles" might appear slight but this is the most fulfilled, fulfilling Drona set to date.

Overtones curve opening track "Sanguine Smiles (call out from the)" — and the record — into being. Hand drums, electronic buzz and a rich sonic backdrop unite to form a modal and modern folk music that gestures toward all the rock to come.

"Ditch (my head tilting back to view a single shining)" almost immediately delivers on that promise, the trio's twined vocals lifting up and out, harnessing electricity enough to power a jubilant anthem; again, key details live in the background — here, hardcore-adjacent screams — compelling listeners to erase any distractions and surrender to the sound.

Just 54 seconds in length, "Star (hidden in the clouds, a soloist in a)" feels both like a fulcrum and a complete statement with its dynamic drums, sing-song melody and natural field recordings. The track precedes "Symphony (of celestial bodies. I try to)," whose orchestra of guitars deliciously reminds us The Smiths, Sonic Youth and Smashing Pumpkins all played rock 'n' roll.

Drona fully hits its stride with "Decipher (why)" and "It Sounds Like Trees Swaying (but i)"; on the former song, spring-loaded rhythms prepare the way for soaring melodies while the latter engages a similarly buoyant call-and-response.

The bent-note yet fully accessible psychedelia of "Couldn't Call (out from)" and dreamy jangle of "Underneath" close the set, a full display of Drona's talents and yet a grasping for an imminent more.

Danielle Nicole, "The Love You Bleed"

Already a literal Kansas City Hall of Famer, Danielle Nicole's latest adds worthy songs to her soulful, three-dimensional catalog. A veteran of bands like Trampled Under Foot — and festivals such as the former Roots N Blues — her work captures timeless shades of the blues while sounding present-tense, urgent even.

Here, she delivers fevered confessions of love over deep, dark drums ("Love on My Brain"); lays down her music as a bridge between the personal and social ("Make Love" offers a fresh take on the "... not war" axiom); crafts, then pushes back against incendiary grooves ("Fireproof"); and floats refreshingly gentle ballads (the beautiful, Spanish guitar-inflected "A Lover is Forever").

Owning her powerhouse voice, Danielle Nicole can sing and sell just about anything — and does so here. She punctuates quick-tempo and - tempered phrases with crucial cadences; wrings the breathy beauty from torch songs; and makes the most of every long note, conveying volumes with each tiny quake in her vibrato. Framed by searing guitars, storefront gospel church organs and a turn-on-a-dime rhythm section, her voice gets over time and again.

Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com or by calling 573-815-1731. He's on Twitter/X @aarikdanielsen.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Check out new Missouri music from Drona, Danielle Nicole