An experimental dream pop group from Chicago,
Desert Liminal formed in 2017 as the project of singer/songwriter Sarah Jane Quillin. Over the course of several years, the project grew into an artful trio which fused melancholic songwriting with noise and shoegaze textures on releases like 2017's Static Thick and 2021's Glass Fate.
In late 2016, while still a member of the lo-fi band Heavy Dreams, Quillin began recording a series of hazy low-key songs using a Casio CT-310 and a handful of effects. She issued the three-song Catalina, Still EP under the
Desert Liminal name, in March of the following year, initially intending it to be a solo project. Faced with the prospect of re-creating the songs on-stage, she began working with drummer Rob Logan in August of 2017 and by November, the duo had recorded their full-length debut, Static Thick. A moody mix of distorted synth textures, sparse drumming, and heavily treated vocals, they returned a year later with the four-song cassette EP
Comb for Gold. In 2019,
Desert Liminal became a trio with arrival of violinist and noise artist Mallory Linehan. The band's increasingly textured sound could be heard on the 2020 singles "Pipedream" and "Alien Grace," and especially on their second full-length, Glass Fate, which arrived in November 2021. ~ Timothy Monger