'Psychedelic Folk' Bands // p 1 of 1

Cotton Jones

Cotton Jones (formerly The Cotton Jones Basket Ride) is an indie folk band, with elements of psychedelic folk, dream pop, baroque pop, and Americana, based in Cumberland, Maryland and currently signed to Suicide Squeeze Records.

Michael Nau (born October 31, 1984) is the lead singer-songwriter and plays guitar, Whitney McGraw (born July 20, 1986) is on keyboards, organ, and electronic autoharp, Todd Gowans (born February 4, 1986) is on lead electric guitar, and Greg Bender is on bass.

The signature sound of the band is Michael Nau and his wife Whitney McGraw's ethereal vocals.

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Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions

Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions is an independent alternative/dream pop band composed of Hope Sandoval from the band Mazzy Star and Colm Ó Cíosóig of My Bloody Valentine. Their first studio album, Bavarian Fruit Bread, was released on October 23, 2001. Alan Browne, from Irish band Dirt Blue Gene, played bass and co-wrote several songs on the album. Through the Devil Softly was released on September 29, 2009, and was recorded with Dirt Blue Gene. Their third album, Until the Hunter, was released on November 4, 2016. Its first single, "Isn't It True", was released on 7" vinyl as part of Record Store Day 2016. A second single, "Let Me Get There" featuring Kurt Vile, was released on September 23.

In a 2016 interview with Consequence of Sound, Ó Cíosóig explained how the musical composition differed from his and Hope's other bands, "It’s not that our other bands have restrictions, but there's a certain sound in those bands. Hope and I have a sound, but it's always changing and morphing into different things while still carrying a similar thread."

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Mazzy Star

Mazzy Star is an American alternative rock band formed in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 from remnants of the group Opal. Founding member David Roback's friend Hope Sandoval became the group's vocalist when Kendra Smith left Opal.

Mazzy Star is best known for the song "Fade into You" which brought the band some success in the mid-1990s and was the group's biggest mainstream hit, earning extensive exposure on MTV, VH1, and radio airplay. Roback and Sandoval are the creative center of the band, with Sandoval as lyricist and Roback as composer of the majority of the band's material.

The band's most recent studio album, Seasons of Your Day, was released in 2013, followed by the EP Still in 2018.

History

Opal and Paisley Underground (1981–1987)
Mazzy Star has deep roots within the Californian Paisley Underground movement of the early 1980s. David Roback, along with his brother Steven, was one of the main architects of leading Los Angeles psychedelic revival band the Rain Parade. Leaving that band after their first LP, he founded Clay Allison in 1983 with then-girlfriend, ex-Dream Syndicate bassist Kendra Smith. Soon after the publication of their sole release, the 1983 double A-sided single "Fell From the Sun"/"All Souls", Clay Allison renamed themselves Opal and released the LP Happy Nightmare Baby on SST on December 14, 1987. With Roback as its musical catalyst, Opal were a direct precursor to Mazzy Star musically—often featuring the same psychedelic guitar drones and similar hints of blues and folk that would later appear on Mazzy Star recordings. Meanwhile, Sandoval—who was in high school at the time—formed the folk music duo Going Home in the early 1980s with fellow student Sylvia Gomez, and played gigs with Sonic Youth and Minutemen. Both were devoted followers of the Rain Parade, and after a 1983 concert by the band in the Los Angeles area, Gomez entered the backstage area of the venue and gave Roback a copy of Going Home's demo tape, featuring Sandoval on vocals and Gomez on guitar. Upon hearing the tape, Roback offered to produce a still-unreleased album by the pair.

When Smith left Opal under cloudy circumstances in the middle of a tour supporting the Jesus & Mary Chain, Sandoval was tapped as her replacement.

Formation and Rough Trade (1988–1990)
Despite Smith's departure, Rough Trade retained Roback's original record deal, contractually obligating him to supply a follow-up to Opal's debut LP. As a result, Roback and Sandoval continued to tour under the Opal alias for the next two years, during which time they completed production on Opal's planned second album, titled Ghost Highway. Composed mainly of songs written by Roback and Smith, Sandoval stated that she was unhappy with the material, and expressed an interest in wanting to "start something completely new". The pair quickly composed and recorded seven new tracks in Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco, and renamed the band Mazzy Star. Written over a year before Mazzy Star's inception, the track "Ghost Highway" is the duo's only original song to not feature a writing credit from Sandoval, while another song, "Give You My Lovin'", was written by Going Home guitarist Sylvia Gomez and first recorded by Sandoval and Gomez in the mid-1980s.

She Hangs Brightly was released in April 1990 on Rough Trade and, although it was not an immediate commercial success, the album established the duo as a recurrent fixture on alternative rock radio, with lead single "Blue Flower" – a cover of the Slapp Happy track – peaking at No. 29 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart. The album would go on to sell over 70,000 copies in the UK.

Capitol (1990–1997)
The American branch of Rough Trade folded in late 1990, briefly leaving Mazzy Star without a record label. Within weeks, the duo's contract was picked up by Capitol, who re-released She Hangs Brightly on November 4, 1990, and released their follow-up, So Tonight That I Might See on September 27, 1993. A year after its release, the album yielded an unexpected hit single. "Fade into You" peaked at No. 44 to become their first Billboard Hot 100 single, while also reaching a career-high peak of No. 3 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart. On April 19, 1995, the album was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipments in excess of 1 million units. The album also peaked at No. 68 in the UK, and was certified silver by the BPI on July 22, 2013 for sales of over 60,000 copies. Following the success of "Fade into You", She Hangs Brightly album opener "Halah" began to receive heavy airplay in the US a

nd peaked at No. 19 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks chart, a chart based solely on airplay. In 1995, She Hangs Brightly was awarded a gold certification from the RIAA for shipments in excess of 500,000 units.

Their final album for Capitol, Among My Swan, was released on October 29, 1996. Entering the Billboard 200 at No. 68 and, as of September 2001, selling 214,000 copies in the United States, the album was less commercially successful than its predecessors, although it produced their highest-peaking single in the United Kingdom, when "Flowers in December" entered at No. 40 to become their only top forty entry on the chart. The band promoted the album with a five-month tour of the US and Europe, after which Sandoval and Roback began work on new material. Over the course of these sessions, Sandoval reportedly "begged" Capitol to be released from her contract, later elaborating, "It seemed record companies wanted bands to be creative because they didn't know how to manufacture underground music. We could do our own thing and go at our own pace. But that changed when major labels started wanting bands that would sell 7 million records. They had a formula. And suddenly all these people wanted to come to the studio to keep track of what we were doing and make sure we were following that formula. So we got out."

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Shearwater

Shearwater is an American indie rock band from Austin, Texas, led by multi-instrumentalist and lead singer Jonathan Meiburg, a singer-songwriter. The band's music is notable for its imagery based in nature, cerebral yet intimate melodic songs, as well as Meiburg's vocals.

Early years
In 1999, Okkervil River band members Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff founded Shearwater as an outlet for quieter songs on which they were collaborating. The band's name comes from the shearwater, a tribe of seabirds related to petrels and albatrosses. Meiburg, who holds a master's degree in geography with a focus on ornithology, picked the name mostly for the sound of the word.

Shearwater's debut, The Dissolving Room, introduced Kim Burke on upright bass; shortly after, drummer and vibraphonist Thor Harris joined the band. The addition of multi-instrumentalist Howard Draper plus tours and support dates with The Mountain Goats, Akron/Family and Blonde Redhead brought them exposure. Shearwater continued to produce music under this lineup in Everybody Makes Mistakes (2002) and Winged Life (2004), as well as the Thieves EP (2005).

In May 2006, Shearwater released Palo Santo, their fourth full-length album and last to be released on Misra Records, to much acclaim from critics and fans. The song "Red Sea, Black Sea," was featured as an NPR Song of the Day. NPR's Stephen Thompson subsequently named Palo Santo as the best album of 2006. Although Sheff appeared as an instrumentalist for the recording of Palo Santo, the album's songs were composed and sung entirely by Meiburg, as the band felt that the songs that Meiburg had written were best suited for the project. Sheff then left the band to concentrate on other projects.

Matador Records
Midway through the tour for Palo Santo, the band was notified by Misra Records that they would be unable to continue to distribute Shearwater's music. Meiburg personally emailed the owner of Matador Records, Gerard Cosloy, who subsequently signed Shearwater to a multi-album deal. On April 10, 2007, Shearwater released a two-disc edition of Palo Santo which featured five re-recorded tracks, remastered versions of the other six tracks, as well as a bonus disc of outtakes from the original sessions. Meiburg had felt that the original Palo Santo suffered from "murkiness", and could be improved upon in the studio.

Matador Records released the album Rook on June 3, 2008. On the tour that followed, Shearwater opened for Clinic and later Coldplay. Additional touring accompanists were added at that time: Jordan Geiger of Hospital Ships and Minus Story (on cornet, synthesizer, and percussion) and Kevin Schneider of Black Before Red (on keyboard, bass, and guitar) replaced Howard Draper.

On February 23, 2010, Shearwater released their sixth album, The Golden Archipelago, which the band produced with John Congleton. The band toured extensively behind the record in 2010, with an international tours in the spring (with Wye Oak and Hospital Ships opening) and additional U.S. dates in the fall (with special guest Damien Jurado). The Golden Archipelago concluded the band's Island Arc trilogy, a project also encompassing Palo Santo and Rook.

On November 6, 2010, the band released an instrumental album, Shearwater is Enron, via Bandcamp. The album was recorded in the spring of 2010 and includes live material recorded at a performance under the pseudonym "Enron." It introduces some textures not traditionally associated with the band, such as electronic drum tracks and squalling guitar rock. Members of Wye Oak and Hospital Ships assist on the live tracks.

Sub Pop Records
In February 2012, a new full-length album called Animal Joy was released. It was Shearwater's first record with Sub Pop Records. The record signaled a new chapter for the band after the conclusion of the Island trilogy, as the album included more rock elements. Following the release of the album, the band opened for the North American tour of Sharon Van Etten.

In 2013, Fellow Travelers was released on Sub Pop, a Shearwater album consisting entirely of cover songs by bands that Shearwater had toured with. Each band that was covered on the album was also invited to play on the album, under the condition that they could not play on their own song.

The band's last record Jet Plane and Oxbow was released on Sub Pop January 22, 2016. Frequent collaborator, producer Danny Reisch, worked on the album, as did composer Brian Reitzell, Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner, drummer Cully Symington, Howard Draper, and regular band members Jesca Hoop, Lucas Oswald, and Abram Shook.

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Steve Taylor

With a sound steeped in the sunlit tones of Laurel Canyon, the mid 60’s pop and R&B of the Brill Building, and the lo-fi synths of early prog rock, Los Angeles resident Steve Taylor makes cinematic, impressionistic psych-folk that pushes the envelope of the singer/songwriter genre. A multi-instrumentalist with a remarkably diverse background, he’s been tapped to play with everyone from LA electro soul group Rhye to bass prodigy Tal Wilkenfeld. He’s steadily recorded his new opus, “The Land of Milk and Honey”, in between international tours and recording gigs. A sparse, moody, and soulful record, it is full of ruminations on the search for an idyllic paradise amidst the chaos and loneliness of modern day life. Sonically, you will find layers of vintage organs, pianos, analog synthesizers, and dead drums, creating a sound that’s both modern and thoroughly informed by 70’s AM rock.

Influenced by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Nick Drake, and Joni Mitchell, his last album “Has the Size of the Road Got the Better of You?” was recorded at home and at the venerable Tiny Telephone Studio in San Francisco. The record showed the expanded influence of gospel music, something he explored while he was a guitarist and organist at a number of prominent African American congregations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Performing solo and with his band, Steve has played hundreds of shows, including headlining slots at The Independent and The Chapel in San Francisco, The Echo and The Hotel Café in LA, and The Hope & Anchor in London. An avid busker, he has made many fans the old fashioned way, through singing his heart out and pounding out his songs on his portable Helpinstill piano, an electrified acoustic remnant from the 70’s.

In addition to being an active solo artist, Steve has played as a singer, keyboardist and guitarist with an incredibly diverse range of collaborators, including Rhye, Skylar Grey, Lauren Ruth Ward, Duane Betts, Rogue Wave, Nicki Bluhm, and members of the Grateful Dead, CAN, Guns n Roses, The Edwin Hawkins Singers, Deathcab for Cutie, and The Dirty Projectors.

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Timber Timbre

Timber Timbre is a Canadian music group, featuring Taylor Kirk, Simon Trottier, Mathieu Charbonneau and Mark Wheaton. The moniker refers to an early series of recordings made in a timber-framed cabin set in the wooded outskirts of Bobcaygeon, Ontario.

Timber Timbre released two albums independently before releasing their self-titled album on Out of This Spark in January 2009. They were subsequently signed to Arts & Crafts, who re-released the album on June 30 in Canada and July 28 internationally. The album was named as a longlist nominee for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize on June 15, 2009, and was deemed album of the year by Eye Weekly.

The band's song "Magic Arrow" was featured in the television show Breaking Bad, in the episode "Caballo Sin Nombre", as well as in the TV series The Good Wife, in the episode "Bitcoin for Dummies". "Black Water" features on the soundtrack for the 2012 comedy, For a Good Time, Call..., as well Bottom of the World (2017). Their song "Demon Host" was featured in the end credits to the 2013 film The Last Exorcism Part II, and in the movie The Gambler (2014).

The band's fourth album, Creep On Creepin' On, was released in April 2011. It was named as one of ten shortlisted nominees for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize, losing to Arcade Fire's The Suburbs. In 2012, the band supported British folk singer Laura Marling on her UK tour and Canadian singer Feist on her tour of America.

The band's fifth record, Hot Dreams, was released April 1, 2014. It was a shortlisted nominee for the 2014 Polaris Music Prize, but lost to Tanya Tagaq's Animism. The song "Run From Me" is featured in the Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country, and in the sixth season of Netflix TV series Orange is the New Black.

Timber Timbre's sixth album, Sincerely, Future Pollution, was released on April 7, 2017, on City Slang Records. The album's first single, "Sewer Blues", was released in January 2017. The second single, "Velvet Gloves & Spit", was released on February 15, 2017.

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Vetiver

Vetiver is an American folk band headed by songwriter Andy Cabic.

History

Vetiver was formed in San Francisco in 2002. The band released their self-titled debut album in 2004 on the small indie folk label DiCristina. Since the album's release, Vetiver has toured extensively, opening for and collaborating with Devendra Banhart and Joanna Newsom. Vetiver released another album, To Find Me Gone, on DiCristina in 2006. Banhart and Cabic also launched their own label, Gnomonsong Recordings, releasing Jana Hunter's Blank Unstaring Heirs of Doom in 2005 and There's No Home in 2007. The label also released in 2008 Vetiver's Thing of the Past, a collection of cover songs that have influenced Cabic's aesthetic. Sub Pop Records (US) and Bella Union (UK) released Vetiver's Tight Knit (2009) The Errant Charm (2011), and Complete Strangers (2015).

The band shared the bill with Vashti Bunyan on her US tour in early 2007. Over the years, the band has toured with artists like Fleet Foxes, The Shins, Fruit Bats and Wilco.

Cabic's music has also been featured in numerous TV commercials, including an original song for Birds Eye. He also works as a composer, including the documentary The Family Jams and the film Smashed, which was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2012.

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Weyes Blood

Natalie Laura Mering (born June 11, 1988), known professionally as Weyes Blood (pronounced /waɪzblʌd/), is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. She was primarily raised in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has been performing her own material under variations of the name Weyes Blood since 2003.

Her music has undergone significant changes throughout her career. She has been involved in the underground noise music scene and was briefly bassist of the Portland, Oregon-based group Jackie-O Motherfucker and was singer for the band Satanized. As Weyes Bluhd she made two self-released albums, changing to Weyes Blood to release The Outside Room (2011) on microlabel Not Not Fun Records. She then signed with independent label Mexican Summer, releasing The Innocents (2014) and Front Row Seat to Earth (2016). She released her latest studio album, Titanic Rising (2019) on Sub Pop, to critical acclaim.

Natalie Laura Mering was born on June 11, 1988 in Santa Monica, California, into a deeply religious born again Pentecostal Christian family. Commenting on her upbringing, Mering said: "I was raised in a real spiritual, Bible Belt household. So I developed my own cynicism because there are always things in the Bible that really bum me out.... I became really obsessed with the Kids in the Hall as a kid, and they had Scott Thompson, who's like the one gay member. I remember having this feeling that 'Oh, Scott Thompson isn't going to heaven? How could that be?' That was my first big tipoff that something wasn't quite right with dogmatic Christianity. And then I was just trying to undo it at the age of 12."

Mering's family moved several times throughout her childhood; she spent her early life in Scotts Valley, California before they settled in Doylestown, Pennsylvania in 1999, where she attended high school. Both her older brothers and parents are musicians and music played an important part in her upbringing. Her father, Sumner Mering, is a musician and guitarist who was in a Los Angeles new wave band entitled Sumner in the late 1970s.

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