Downvent is a grunge infused Alt Rock project that focusses on sustaining the feelings created by the 90’s Alt Rock movement. Located in the Chicago area, the Downvent project has a long history of limited release demo recordings going all the way back to the 90s.

Kirk Ray, the founder and only current member of Downvent, handles all aspects of its musical production. Over the years, Kirk has recorded hundreds of demos spanning multiple genres, but he feels that Alt Rock is his musical home. Kirk hopes to someday recruit other musicians into the Downvent project, but he is content to do it all himself.

The distinct sound of Downvent started sometime in the mid 90s with a four track Tascam demo of a song called “Disgruntled.” Since that long gone day, the sound of Downvent has evolved and the project has generated an extensive catalog of music which will start to be extensively released in 2023.

After a period of dormancy, Downvent came back to life in the spring of 2019 when Kirk started recording sessions for what would evolve into two new studio albums. The resulting quality of the “Circle Sessions” was superior to earlier limited release tracks, so Kirk decided it was time to release the new songs to all major streaming services. After some initial delays, the mixing of the 20 songs from the “Circle Sessions” was completed in late 2022, and Downvent started releasing tracks from the sessions as one off singles.

The first single to be released in 2023 was “Forever & Today.”

Kirk admits that “Forever & Today” is one of his favorite songs and that the song evokes feelings similar to what he experienced in his youth listening to bands like Mad Season, STP, Soundgarden, and Alice in Chains.

I hope others enjoy this music as much as I do.

Kirk Ray