Adult Jazz

Leeds-based alternative/indie quartet Adult Jazz surfaced in 2014 via their first full-length release, Gist Is. Harry Burgess, Tim Slater, and Steven Wells, who all spent their early years in the same part of Guildford, Surrey, later relocated to Leeds for university studies, with Burgess and Slater completing teacher-training programs there. Wells linked up with the two a year after their arrival, at which point the initial incarnation of the band took shape. Tom Howe rounded out the membership after the three originals connected with him through a shared acquaintance. Roughly four years went into crafting the material for Gist Is, which was tracked at a family friend’s studio in Edinburgh. The group issued their debut single, the two-song “Am Gone/Springful,” in 2014 as an advance preview of the album. Gist Is itself appeared that summer on the band’s own Spare Thought imprint. Subsequent U.K. headline dates and festival slots at CMJ and Latitude helped spread word of their ambitious, offbeat indie pop, drawing admiration from Björk and David Byrne. The latter invited them to appear at his Meltdown festival in 2015. Their second release, the seven-track Earrings Off!, surfaced in spring 2016 on Tri Angle.