The first solid lineup featuring Levin on Chapman Stick/Loops, Yaman Aksu on guitar and Brian Griffin on Drums made its performance debut on November 2 1997 in Baltimore, Maryland. This trio recorded the group's self-titled debut CD during a weekend recording session in January of 1998. The CD featured guest vocalist Jason Wilson on three songs. Wilson performed in concert with the band during their 1998 concert schedule which saw them touring with several well known European and US based artists.

In the late summer of 1998, Wilson was replaced by Ray Weston (Echolyn). During this time Levin switched from Stick to a custom built 8 string touchstyle guitar built by luthier Mark Warr of Warr Guitars. The band's second CD Feed the Silence was released in March of 1999 featuring the addition of keyboards to the band's sound, two songs featuring Weston's vocals and a guest appearance by German Warr Guitarist Markus Reuter (Europa String Choir).

During touring following the release of Feed the Silence, drummer Allen Brunelle (Iluvatar) and guitarist Steev Geest (Solaris Guitar Trio/Fingerpaint) replaced Griffin and Aksu. The revamped lineup made their debut at the 5th Annual Progday International Progressive Rock Festival held on Sep 4-5 1999, representing the US amongst several international acts.

In the space of a few weeks during the summer of 2000 the band played the Quarkstock festival in Columbus Ohio, The Mandelbrot Festival in Hartford Connecticut, headlined at New York's prestigious Knitting Factory's main space and was personally chosen by members of Happy The Man as their opening act at Virginia's State Theatre for the group's first concert in over 20 years.

In the Fall of 2000, after a period of lineup retooling which included Rocky Cancelose (ex-Boud Deun) briefly filling in for Allen Brunelle, a new lineup emerged with vocalist Jennifer Huff and guitarist John McCloskey (On The Rocks) joining Levin and Brunelle. In early 2001 the band expanded into a 5 piece unit with the addition of keyboardist Marty Saletta (ex-Chaos Code/The Web).

The band's third CD The Gentle Art of Firewalking featuring the new 5 piece lineup was released in 2002.

The Dark Aether Project creates music that is dark, dissonant and rhythmically complex with interludes of ethereal calm. Intricately composed music is balanced with equal parts improvisation for an original blend of modern progressive music for the new millennium.