Dar Stellabotta: "Into Thin Air" (2025) Vinyl Review

Dar Stellabotta is a singer and songwriter with a great, raw punk sound, which she applies to the folk and blues realms. Part of that raw sound comes from the fact that she builds her own cigar box guitars and uses them on her recordings. She put out her first album using a cigar box guitar in 2017, One Woman Jam, which includes such cool numbers as "Sludge Truck" and "Shovelin' Shit" (before that, she had released banjo albums Black Owl Demo and Broke In The USA). She followed One Woman Jam with Lo-fi Rejection in 2019, and that same year started a band called Fuzz Voyage. Now she has a new full-length solo album titled Into Thin Air. That title might make you think of Jon Krakauer's book about an ill-fated Mt. Everest expedition, or of Prospero's great speech from Act IV of The Tempest: "Our revels now are ended. These our actors,/As I foretold you, were all spirits and/Are melted into air, into thin air."Are our revels ended? It does seem that way these days, doesn't it? We are now neck-deep in some strangeness, and Dar Stellabotta's voice cuts straight through it to reach us on a primal, fundamental level. This record is presented on clear orange vinyl, and is on its second pressing. By the way, the cool cover art is by Rimba Ranu.

Side A

The album opens with "Many Miles To Go," which has a wonderful raw sound and feel.There is a bit of that swampy thing happening, along with a steady thump on the kick drum and a rather beautiful and striking vocal performance. "I can't take/Anymore/What was open/Is now a closed door/And I got many miles to go." And something happens during the next instrumental section, for then she sings, "Well, I think/I changed my mind/I'm doing good/I'm doing fine," and suddenly those miles ahead have a different feel, don't they? Dar Stellabotta delivers a performance that draws us in, and it feels like we'll join her for some of those miles. That's followed by "Gone." Here she sings, "I traveled beyond eternity and I came back without shit," with a voice that tears out a piece of eternity, claiming it for her own. And who would argue with her? It's a voice that is one part ethereal, and two parts the fires burning within. There is also a catchy guitar part that helps this track stand out. It's one of my personal favorites. "I fought my way through the fires of hell and I was reborn/I lost my mind, and I got it back/And I don't know what for." 

"Your Thing" is a cool number featuring some nice work on guitar. That moment when the guitar sort of drops out and becomes a part of the rhythm on the line "Then boom, you just stop" totally grabs us. This feels like a wild solo version of a hit song. It has that feel to it, and, hey, it's a love song. "Love you 'til the end of time," she repeats, and in there is a youthful vibe. Because don't we all get younger when it comes to attraction, to love? I love the way she sings "I'll do mine" on the line "You do your thing/And I'll do mine," making me wonder just what she has in mind. I also love the way she mixes folk and punk sensibilities on "Living On The River," weaving a sort of magic through the whole thing, a magic that provides an undeniable energy, pulling the eternal and the transitory together. "Time to go home," she sings, and as always, there is something greatly appealing about the idea of going home in song. And this song provides the album with its title: "We will disappear/Into thin air." Ah, we are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. This is another of my personal favorites. The first side concludes with "Ain't Too Good," which has a great bluesy sound, with some wonderful stuff on guitar. But it is her voice that is especially striking. "Ain't too good baby to tell you I feel like I'm going to die." I love her delivery, and as she tells us, "I need love/I need desire," we are right with her. What else do we need?  "Not to be gone, gone, gone."

Side B

The second side of the record opens with "Never Heard," which comes on strong. "Never heard the words you said/They just went right through my head/And I'm glad, yes, I'm glad I didn't listen." There is a great joy in those lines, and this is a song with plenty of attitude. Ah, we've all been led astay by someone, haven't we? When we attributed something undeserved to that someone. This is a song of moving on, of reclaiming one's self, one's time. I imagine this is one that gets a strong reaction from audiences in live performances by Dar Stellabotta, largely because of its lyrics and her delivery, but also because of that cool work on guitar. That's followed by a cover of "Working On A Building," folk music with a punk drive, which works so well. There is a delicious energy to this rendition, like gospel rising up from the swamps and pits. It is wonderful, fun and, yes, uplifting.

"Truck" has a groovy blues vibe, and also a sense of humor. "When you're down, down on your luck/And everything, everything starts to suck/Head on down to the dealership and buy yourself a truck." Interesting advice, right? And no worries if you can't afford it (hey, who can?). "Can't afford to buy a new house this year/And my other car, my other car is slipping gears/I said forget it, put it on my credit/Now the repo man is gonna have to come to my house to get it." This is a song I appreciate more each time I listen to this record. The album then concludes with "Leave Me To My Witch," delicious blues rising from below, bursting up into our realm, the music straddling two worlds. "Leave me to the magic that heals the pain for a bit/Leave me to my time, and what's left of it." Oh yes! This is a seriously cool song with a fantastic vocal performance. "Condemned to hell by the holy man/I can't change what they don't understand."

Record Track List

Side A

1. Many Miles To Go
2. Gone
3. Your Thing
4. Living On The River
5. Ain't Too Good

Side B

1. Never Heard
2. Working On A Building
3. Truck
4. Leave Me To My Witch

Into Thin Air was released on September 6, 2025.