Happy Friday, my friends! We’re rolling the calendar back just a couple of weeks for this latest Profile, and the second to last of the May releases. New York/Texas-based post-industrial/dark ambient experimental project Diminishing dropped their second release in the form a new EP, The Outcome, on May 29th through Anti-Corp Music. Formed back in 2019 by Lane Oliver (ex-Yatsu, Feel Happiness) and David Brenner (Gridfailure), Diminishing contains much of what you could both expect and want from such a collaboration – tense, abrasive soundscapes that restrain and surround from start to finish. Their intent was made clear with 2023’s debut The Unnamable, and The Outcome pushes things further still, leaving us anticipating what the next full-length effort could contain. But, more on that at a future date. For now, give Lane’s responses a read while you get lost in this thing.

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How and when did you first get into playing music, or metal more specifically, and how did your band get its start? Any pushback from family/those close to you?

I’ve been into heavier forms of music all my life, with my mother exposing me to stuff like Metallica and Ozzy Osbourne from a very early age. Something about the intensity of it tickled my little brain, and as life went on, I searched for music that was more aggressive and weirder than what I had discovered before it. Now I listen to stuff that she cannot stand. Go figure.

I started playing guitar around 13-14 and never stopped writing songs. Over the years, I’ve been involved in several now-defunct cybergrind projects and have contributed various instrumentation to acts like Gridfailure, and others. My first “real” band, however, was the hardcore/grind band Yatsu, which I was in from 2019-2025. I never got any pushback from my family as I pursued these things. They’ve always been supportive.

My current main project, Diminishing, was formed around 2019 when my short-lived solo project, Feel Happiness, was in the process of creating a collaborative record with Gridfailure. For various personal reasons, I decided to dissolve Feel Happiness, and Dave (Brenner, Gridfailure) proposed we release the collab record as the debut full-length of a new band. Flash forward to 2023, and Diminishing’s “The Unnamable” reveals not-so-pretty face to the world.

How would you describe your band and what you play to someone who is completely in the dark?

Diminishing is an oppressive experimental industrial project that paints in shades of noise, doom, dark ambient, and sound collage. Imagine if Godflesh or Khanate songs were deconstructed by the hands of a clinically depressed horror film composer.

Is there anything about your latest album or about your band that no one will find in any interview or review that you care to divulge?

The bulk of the new Diminishing EP, “The Outcome,” is comprised of a long-form dual guitar improv track I recorded on a whim. I had one guitar running through my usual amp setup with a variety of effect pedals, and another guitar lying on the floor, running through a cheap combo amp with some light reverb and chorus effects engaged. Throughout the track, you can hear a mechanical whirring sound in the background. That sound is an electric toothbrush vibrating on the fretboard of the floor guitar. It was such a silly thing to do, but it yielded the result I wanted. Sometimes you don’t need all that fancy, expensive gear, kids.

Please remember to get your teeth cleaned every six months.

Any funny stories from playing shows / tours / festivals, etc?

Diminishing is a long-distance project (TX/NY), so shows haven’t been a possibility. But during one of the first shows with Yatsu, an audience member leered at us the entire time we played with a machete strapped to their hip. I’m not sure what they were expecting to pop off. At that same show, one of the local bands performed an impromptu 10-second “grind” song to tease us. After they finished their set, the singer was so afraid that they had offended us that they hunted us down one by one to apologize, even though we were unbothered. Unsurprisingly, the machete wielder liked their band.

What do you see as some of the great things happening in and around the metal scene (yours or just in general) and what are some of the worst things happening right now?

For decades now, Europe has been churning out this sound that’s a mix of hardcore, noise rock, sludge, and post-whatevercore that I absolutely love. Breach (the OGs), Kollapse, Mínus, Knut, Unfold, Membrane, Mass Culture, the list goes on and on.

Generative AI is probably the worst thing happening to music (and art in general) right now, but I’m just preaching to the choir here.

Most folks have passions for a cause or causes that are close to them. What, if any, are some of the most important issues (social/political/humorous/etc.) for you / your band and how do you insert those issues into your music?

Diminishing’s music deals with the darker aspects of the human condition and our innate contradictory nature. The songs touch upon trauma, grief, and existential dread, and how maladaptive behaviors or thought processes affect those things. The lyrics stem from very personal places, but we try to present them in ways that can be broadly applicable to others.

Do you guys have day jobs or hobbies you want to share?

I am an author. Links to some of my published works can be found here.

What advice do you have for music critics and outlets out there? How can we all better serve the genre in the eyes of a hard-working musician?

Ignore most of the drama and those who consistently cause it. Give the spotlight to smaller artists regularly. If you don’t like a particular artist, don’t spend the time writing hate pieces about them. What’s the point?

Any specific long term goal(s) in mind?

I would like to continue progressing creatively across different mediums and collaborate with more like-minded weirdos.

When you’re not obsessing over your own material, what are some of your favorite albums to listen to currently?

Breach – “It’s Me God, Venom, and Kollapse”
Doppler – “Pourquoi Ce Disque?”
Scattered Purgatory – “Post Purgatory”
Erdve – “Epigrama”
Forager – “Even a Child Can Cover the Sun with a Finger”

What is the near future outlook for you or your band? Any specific events on the horizon that the masses should be aware of?

Our new EP “The Outcome,” will be released on May 29th via Anti-Corp Music. Diminishing’s second full-length record is nearing its completion and will hopefully be out in 2027. I also have a solo ambient guitar EP that should be out sometime this year.

Summarize your band in one word.

Harrowing.

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Many thanks to Lane and Diminishing for the time!

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The Outcome is out now through Anti-Corp Music. For more on Diminishing, give them a follow on Instagram or Facebook.