Del Rey (band)
Del Rey | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois |
| Genres | Post-rock |
| Years active | 1997–present |
| Labels | My Pal God Records |
| Members | Eben English, Chris Cowgill, Damien Burke, Michael Johnson, Jason Ward |
| Website | dlry.net |
Del Rey is an American instrumental post-rock band from Chicago.[1]
History[edit]
Del Rey was founded in 1997 after two of its members, Eben English and Damien Burke, moved from Maine to Chicago.[2] The group added drummer Mike Johnson in 1998 and bassist Chris Cowgill in 2003, and began playing instrumental music partly because none of the members were adept vocalists.[2] Del Rey's first full-length album, Speak it Not Aloud, was released in 2001 on My Pal God Records, and its melding of jazz and alternative rock drew comparisons to fellow Chicago band Tortoise.[3] Darkness & Distance followed in 2003, also on My Pal God.[4] The group kept a weekly rehearsal space in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood from 2005 to 2009, but left it after a robber stole several of their instruments in October 2009.[5] Their fourth album, Immemorial, was issued in 2010, and featured use of Asian instruments such as guzhengs and taiko drums.[6] This album saw the band's greatest commercial success come as an accident; in late 2011, the band was routinely confused by German shoppers on Amazon.de for the singer Lana Del Rey as her songs climbed the German charts.[7] The album repeatedly entered Amazon.de's top-sellers list, at one point becoming the online retailer's seventh-best-selling album in Germany.[8] The label that released Immemorial, Golden Antenna, re-pressed the album to meet demand as singles from Lana Del Rey's Born to Die became Europe-wide hits.[8]
Members[edit]
- Eben English - guitar (1997–present)
- Damien Burke - guitar (1997–present)
- Michael Johnson - drums (1998–present)
- Chris Cowgill - bass (2003–present)
- Jason Ward - multiple instruments, production (2001–present)
Discography[edit]
- DLRY (Dirigible Recordings, 1999)
- Speak it Not Aloud (My Pal God Records, 2001)
- Darkness & Distance (My Pal God Records, 2003)
- A Pyramid for the Living (My Pal God Records, 2006)
- Immemorial (Golden Antenna Records, 2010)
- The Backbone of Night (Self-released, 2017)
References[edit]
- ^ Review of Speak it Not Aloud. Allmusic.
- ^ a b Their Music Needs No Words. Chicago Tribune, June 17, 2005.
- ^ Review of Speak It Not Aloud. Ink 19, December 26, 2001.
- ^ Review of Darkness & Distance. Allmusic
- ^ Del Rey not in a big hurry in quest for timeless music. Chicago Tribune, October 8, 2010.
- ^ Review of Immemorial. Alternative Press, October 1, 2010.
- ^ The Right Del Rey. Chicago Reader, January 26, 2012.
- ^ a b Lana Del Rey Helped Make a Band Big in Germany. SPIN, January 26, 2012.
