Lights out. The rustling of cords and feet coming from the direction of three human silhouettes is all that is heard. A moment later, an eerie red stage light is flipped on from the floor and the sounds of a storm recorded the night before flood the room.

A bearded man kneels before a keyboard on the ground, tapping a microphone against an amp to create percussion and feedback. A skinny, worn-looking young man with dreadlocks layers chord after chord with his bass guitar. Off to the side sits a woman playing two keyboards held up by a modified walker and singing into a principal’s office microphone words that are barely understandable.

This is how a Flesh Keys show starts. If it seems disorienting and comforting all at the same time, that’s OK.

“It’s about feeling and confusion,” says Adam Hawkins, keyboardist, vocalist and noise creator for the Des Moines-based band.

Flesh Keys has evolved from a trip-hoppy duo into a mildly ambient, electronica-based post-rock trio in the last year. The group was started by Dameon Parker and RaeAnn Propst, both members of the art-minded family known as the Vaudeville Mews, 212 4th St., Des Moines. Parker has been the Mews’ sound and light engineer nearly as long as the club has been in operation, and RaeAnn can often be seen serving cocktails.

In addition to their constant exposure to a variety of music at that venue, Hawkins recently received his audio engineering certification from the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Tempe, Ariz.

Despite their extensive understanding of music theory, Parker says when they come together to play, the band members avoid traditional song-writing methods.

“A lot of it is based on emotion and expression more than a structural song,” he says. “As far as instrumentation goes, we each just play what we’re feeling at the time.”

For an outsider, attempting to see what each member is feeling can prove to be challenging. The clouds of smoke swirling out of their mouths into the greasy air of a truck stop diner suits their laid-back demeanor. There are secrets in the heart of Flesh Keys, and their music may very well be the only outlet for them to be voiced.

Minimalism and mystery are evident in both the band’s music and mannerisms. Everyday sounds and speeches on anarchy are some of the things Parker samples. This is combined with a heavy use of effects, distortion and layering static to make a kind of music rarely, if ever, heard in Iowa.

Hawkins describes the band’s intentions of finding the balance between creativity and accessibility as “creating a landscape but not populating it.” In his words, the result is “morbidly whimsical.”

Vocalist/keyboardist RaeAnn has her own way of describing the walls of sound Flesh Keys ends up with.

“I like to think our music sounds like we’re having babies.”