Over the last year, Orlando-based quartet Kingsbury has been performing in support of their record the Great Compromise. Driven by dark mood swings, plaintive vocals and subdued rhythm, it has all the elements of a work of musical art. 

REAX: Several of the song titles on the Great compromise seem to have a macabre overtone to them...
Bruce Reed: People say that our music is overly dark and I don't go in with the intention of that, but when everything is said and done the songs that we move to as a band seem to have a dark side to them. I don't go in having a set theme, and we went in with 15 or 20 songs, and the songs that work the best for us have a darker side to them.

REAX: Is there some subject matter that you feel drawn to there?
BR: All of my lyrics are built upon relationships, people who have entered or exited my life, and dreams of them, things of that nature. 

REAX: Preconceived notions of what "bands from Orlando sound like" possibly based on what bands were successful in the '90s has been blown out of the water by the new groups like Summerbirds in the Cellar. What do you feel like you have been up against to come out of that town with this sound that you have?
BR: We always felt like we didn't really belong there. The bands that have the pop sound seem to do really well here, but there does to seem to be a shift. In all the Florida cities, it seems like there used to be certain genres in certain cities that excelled, but now it seems that every city seems to be developing some different form of musical culture. When we started the band, we used to live in Vero Beach, and there was this mentality, because it was a small town, that if you were in a band and you had to tour, it's what you did. From the very beginning this band toured a lot, we put out our first EP in February 2004, and then a tour that year in June and August. Bands used to build this following through touring, because it was much cheaper. 

REAX: And now so many bands can't afford to tour because of the economy?
BR: Yes, It's sort of sad but cool at the same time, but the by-product is that we will have very strong local communities, and people will be focusing on the areas closest to them, because that is all they will be able to expose themselves to live. All the bands in an area will all know each other, and wind up helping one another. Even though it may be tough that we can't tour all over like we used to ... I think it may be able to help people down the road, because it will help everyone build a more efficient community ... at least that's what I hope would happen.

It's harder and harder to think of music as anything other than ... a labor of love. There are so many components to it and so many moving parts and very few people make careers out of it, and you have to look at it as only something for artistic merit, and you wonder how far you want to go for people to hear it, because the only point of doing it is as art.

REAX: An artist would typically say that art for art's sake is their only true calling for their life. Listening to your music it seems like you are trying to satisfy the music itself.
BR: We do go about it for us more than anyone else. I think that it's most indie bands' goal, because anyone that's realistic could look around and say that there are a ton of bands and a ton of music and no one is buying it, but let's keep doing this because we love to do it and that's all you can do.

Kingsbury plays the I-4 Music Fest at Austin's Coffee in Winter Park on July 4.

myspace.com/kingsbury