Sylvan Esso

Comprising the sweet-voiced Amelia Meath and electronic pop wizard Nick Sanborn, the duo of Sylvan Esso was formed in Durham, NC in 2013. Meath was formerly a member of Mountain Man, an Appalachian-styled folk trio who built an indie buzz after forming at Bennington College in Vermont. The trio toured in 2012-13 with songwriter Feist, joining forces for four-part vocals onstage. Meath launched a solo tour afterward and met Sanborn, who was the opening act, at a club gig in Milwaukee. The pair hit it off and she invited him to remix a Mountain Man song, "Play It Right." Both sensed an immediate chemistry; according to Meath in a Harpers Bazaar interview, it was "because we both danced like dorks." They made plans to reconvene in Durham and begin recording, working largely in Sanborn's bedroom studio without additional players. Released in May 2014, their self-titled debut as Sylvan Esso was a surprise hit, reaching #39 on the Billboard albums chart. While the songs sported bright pop surfaces, there was often a melancholy undercurrent. As Meath noted in the same interview, the infectious single "Coffee" was about chasing a perfect relationship that can never really exist. They performed the single on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon (NBC 2014-) in July 2014 and toured frequently over the next year, playing a number of festivals including Coachella and Austin City Limits. During summer 2015 they also contributed a new song, called "Music From Radiolab's 'Elements'," to an episode of that NPR program that dealt with bipolar disorder. They also combined with tour partner Flock of Dimes (a/k/a singer/songwriter Jenn Wasner) to cover Crowded House's pop ballad "Don't Dream It's Over." Their only 2016 release was a single, "Radio," which again combined shimmery pop with a darker message, about the emotiness of consumer culture. Released digitally in September 2016, the song was released on a 12" single with the live favorite "Kick Jump Twist" on the flip.