The Tropic Of Barren is the debut release from Virginia's From Quagmire. A trio of Dorothy Geller, James Wolf, and Rake guitarist Vincent Van Go-Gogh, FQ's beautiful, mysterious and just plain weird art-song drift is a look into a rather under-explored corner of the underground universe. The slowly unfolding songs are based on Dorothy's nylon string guitar and hushed-but-pointed vocals, punctuated by Wolf's expertly sawing violin and Van Go-Gogh's unpredictable percussion, electronics and guitar interjections. The music is highly detailed and performed with significant individual personality, rather than the predictable loud-soft-repeat bombast of other contemporary "chamber" ensembles. 6 Tracks, 44 Minutes.