[Cover photo credit to Joey Martinez]

Darker Lighter, the project of Los Angeles-based songwriter, Producer, and multi-instrumentalist Salar Rajabnik, is releasing his self-titled debut record. The album was recorded at Studio 606 with Grammy-nominated Producer and engineer Robert Adam Stevenson (Paul McCartney, Queens of the Stone Age, The Kills, Jeff Beck).

Rajabnik brings years of experience from the Indie Rock and Post-Punk worlds. He has previously collaborated with Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, Kim Gordon, and more. The album arrives today alongside the release of the track, “Be.”

Darker Lighter is Rajabnik’s exploration of “loss, heartbreak, identity, isolation, and political unrest.”

On “Be”, the artist perfors every instrument himself. The track echoes “the album’s central themes of longing, disconnection, and the elusive search for belonging.”

Salar Rajabnik says on the track:

“Be” is one of the most deeply personal songs i’ve ever written. It’s about a feeling I get often; which is that I find myself feeling out of place. Whether ideologically, artistically or socially, often due to being unwilling to compromise my identity or principles. Themes of biculturalism, socio-political alienation, the fallout and consequences of activism and more influenced the meaning of the tune. The ultimate conclusion of the song is that “The price you pay is who you have to be.”