Durham, NC · synth-pop · electronic · indie pop

Sylvan Esso

2 upcoming festivals ↓

Amelia Meath's plainspoken hooks over Nick Sanborn's modular synth pulses: Durham electronic pop that clicks in a club and still sings in a field.

Sylvan Esso is Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, who began working together in Durham after Sanborn remixed a song by Mountain Man, the folk harmony trio Meath sings in. Sanborn had played bass in Megafaun and built beats under the name Made of Oak, and the pairing kept both halves intact: Meath's singing carries the shape of unaccompanied folk, while the tracks underneath run on drum machines and synthesizers.

Their self-titled debut arrived in 2014 with "Coffee" and "Hey Mami," songs that put a flat, conversational vocal line against a beat with a lot of empty space in it. Later records including What Now and Free Love pushed further into dance tempos. Onstage the two work alone, Meath moving constantly at the front, Sanborn behind a bank of gear.

synth-popelectronicindie pop