by Mark Deming Performing taut, muscular, but intricate indie rock in the mold of At the Drive-In and Braid, Buffalo, NY's Damiera are the brainchild of guitarist and vocalist Dave Raymond and guitarist Matthew Kipp, who formed the band from the ashes of their previous project, League, which broke up in early 2005. Eager to get their new band off the ground without wasting time, Raymond and Kipp recruited drummer Brad McRae, formerly with the Florida-based Sleeping Girl Drowning, and began writing material while searching for a bass player. By the time Damiera felt they were ready to record, they still hadn't found a bassist they were happy with, so their friend Mark Henry, vocalist with the group Queen City Nights, volunteered to play on the group's self-titled debut EP, released in late 2005. After Damiera set out on a tour with a temporary bass player, Henry chose to leave Queen City Nights and join Damiera full-time. However, the band's solid lineup didn't last long, as Kipp turned in his resignation; finding a new lead guitarist proved to be a daunting task, and after auditioning over 100 musicians, Damiera found New Orleans native Rock Whittington through a posting on the Internet. After woodshedding a new set of material for two months, Damiera signed with Tamerlane Records and recorded their first full album, M(US)ic, with the help of producer Jayson DeZuzio. However, before the album could reach stores, Tamerlane went out of business. Accustomed to dealing with obstacles by now, Damiera launched a promotional tour anyway, and played over 200 shows in 2006, bringing with them a 1,000-unit limited pressing of M(US)ic. The band had no trouble selling all the discs, and Equal Vision Records signed Damiera, giving M(US)ic its first official release in early 2007. Though the group received largely positive reviews for their album, Damiera suddenly announced in June (via a message on their MySpace page) that they'd broken up, simply stating "we set a goal and found it."