Name: Cleared Album Release + Douglas McCombs
Start: 2026-03-14T20:30:00-05:00
Location: 3111 N Western Ave Chicago IL 60618

8:30pm. $15 ADV / $20 DOS.

Cleared is the duo of percussionist Steven Hess and guitarist Michael Vallera. Since 2010 the project has released several records on various labels and performed sparingly in North America. While their discography explores many facets and interpretations of minimalist composition and repetitive themes, at heart Cleared is centered on the construction of a language and structural system between two musicians concerned with patience and environmental sound.

This is the record release show for their most recent release 'Lustres' which is released on ROOM40 [https://room40.org/].

Lustres is the most detailed and refined output of our studio practice using this method of exchanging sound material. The four tracks present a mood that, for us, is indicative of a kind of rolling celestial atmosphere. Simultaneously, there exists both a subterranean and starlit quality about the music. To us, it is not unlike the imagined terrain of a distant meteor or orbiting asteroid, alternating between the extremes of light and temperature as its path is slowly carved in a dark vacuum. It is music for contemplation and quiet reflection, as these are the states of listening we have come to greatly appreciate in our personal lives, and as the space in which we are most happy to have our music experienced. Lustres is a document being released as we near 15 years of the Cleared collaboration, and we hope it offers listeners a chapter of our story that, while rooted in our past material, advances the core discipline of what we have always pursued as our central theme: Patience.

https://clearedreleases.bandcamp.com/music
https://mvallera.com/

Photo: Micheal Vallera

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Douglas McCombs is a bass player and guitar player living in Chicago. He is currently active in the groups Tortoise, Eleventh Dream Day, Brokeback, Pullman, Black Duck, Basic, Yr Knives and Sick Gazelle.

McCombs has recorded and or performed live with a variety of international groups including but not limited to Yo La Tengo, Stereolab, Calexico, School of Language, Chris Forsyth Solar Motel, Azita Youseffi, Tom Zé, Two Dollar Guitar and FACS.

On special occasions such as wedding, birthday, bar/bat mitzvah, insurrection, jihad or revolution, McCombs will perform solo electric guitar. This will be one of those.

https://thrilljockey.com/artists/douglas-andrew-mccombs

Photo: Mikel Patrick Avery