Biography
Algiers emerged in 2009 as a politically charged indie trio whose sound fused post-punk and no-wave textures with unfiltered blues, gospel, and traces of early industrial music. Their 2015 self-titled debut on Matador earned favorable attention throughout the United States and Europe. Follow-up releases The Underside of Power, There Is No Year, and Shook drew broad critical praise, prompting some writers to describe the group’s approach as “dystopian soul.”
Guitarist Lee Tesche and bassist Ryan Mahan, both active in Atlanta’s underground rock and noise communities, formed the band after meeting vocalist and guitarist Franklin James Fisher, whose background encompassed the expansive Black gospel heritage of the Deep South, Nina Simone’s soul-blues, and angular funk. Every member also handles percussion, keyboards, and drum programming, and the songs confront cultural traditions across political, social, and religious spheres.
The three musicians began rehearsing and performing together, merging their disparate influences into a distinctive hybrid that incorporated dub, punk, and Afro-funk. Although they attended schools in different countries, they maintained contact through email and continued shaping their music and political ideas remotely. The band’s first single, “Blood,” was captured in studios in London and New York and issued in 2012 as a limited edition of 500 copies that sold out rapidly, while their intense live shows and singular sound attracted early notice. A second single, “Claudette,” was recorded over the following years and surfaced in 2013. Matador found the group via their website and signed them in January 2014; the following April the trio entered the studio for their first full-length. With Mahan and Tesche based in London and Fisher in New York, he joined them in the U.K., where British producer and engineer Tom Morris helped finish the album at 4AD’s studios. The self-titled record featured fresh versions of the two earlier singles and was previewed by “But She Was Not Flying” and “Black Eunuch” before its June 2015 release.
After the debut received universal acclaim, Algiers toured extensively, now joined by drummer Matt Tong, forging connections with artists across genres that later proved valuable during work on their second album amid the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election. Mahan observed: “This album was recorded in a political environment that collapses the late-'70s economic crisis and the looming onslaught of arch-conservative neoliberalism, via Thatcher and Reagan, into the late 1930s, a world riven by fascist nationalism and white power fantasies in the U.S. and abroad.” Produced by Adrian Utley and Ali Chant of Portishead and mixed by Randall Dunn (Sunn O)))), with post-production by Ben Greenberg (the Men, Hubble), The Underside of Power was introduced by its title-track single and video in April 2017 and released in full that June.
Over the next several years the band continued global touring. In mid-2019 they launched the web installation project thereisnoyear, which included the audiovisual work “Can the Sub_Bass Speak?” Later that year “Dispossession” and “Void” preceded the third album, There Is No Year, which expanded the group’s palette with ’60s soul, disco, and noise. Issued in January 2020 and again produced by Dunn and Greenberg, the record featured saxophonist Skerik plus backing vocals from LaToya Kent, Kyle Kidd, and Lou the Dog. The frenetic, electronic-leaning single “Irreversible Damage,” featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, arrived in 2022. Two additional tracks, the soulful “I Can't Stand It” and the hard-hitting “73%,” followed in 2023, all three appearing on the fourth album, Shook, later that year.
Guitarist Lee Tesche and bassist Ryan Mahan, both active in Atlanta’s underground rock and noise communities, formed the band after meeting vocalist and guitarist Franklin James Fisher, whose background encompassed the expansive Black gospel heritage of the Deep South, Nina Simone’s soul-blues, and angular funk. Every member also handles percussion, keyboards, and drum programming, and the songs confront cultural traditions across political, social, and religious spheres.
The three musicians began rehearsing and performing together, merging their disparate influences into a distinctive hybrid that incorporated dub, punk, and Afro-funk. Although they attended schools in different countries, they maintained contact through email and continued shaping their music and political ideas remotely. The band’s first single, “Blood,” was captured in studios in London and New York and issued in 2012 as a limited edition of 500 copies that sold out rapidly, while their intense live shows and singular sound attracted early notice. A second single, “Claudette,” was recorded over the following years and surfaced in 2013. Matador found the group via their website and signed them in January 2014; the following April the trio entered the studio for their first full-length. With Mahan and Tesche based in London and Fisher in New York, he joined them in the U.K., where British producer and engineer Tom Morris helped finish the album at 4AD’s studios. The self-titled record featured fresh versions of the two earlier singles and was previewed by “But She Was Not Flying” and “Black Eunuch” before its June 2015 release.
After the debut received universal acclaim, Algiers toured extensively, now joined by drummer Matt Tong, forging connections with artists across genres that later proved valuable during work on their second album amid the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election. Mahan observed: “This album was recorded in a political environment that collapses the late-'70s economic crisis and the looming onslaught of arch-conservative neoliberalism, via Thatcher and Reagan, into the late 1930s, a world riven by fascist nationalism and white power fantasies in the U.S. and abroad.” Produced by Adrian Utley and Ali Chant of Portishead and mixed by Randall Dunn (Sunn O)))), with post-production by Ben Greenberg (the Men, Hubble), The Underside of Power was introduced by its title-track single and video in April 2017 and released in full that June.
Over the next several years the band continued global touring. In mid-2019 they launched the web installation project thereisnoyear, which included the audiovisual work “Can the Sub_Bass Speak?” Later that year “Dispossession” and “Void” preceded the third album, There Is No Year, which expanded the group’s palette with ’60s soul, disco, and noise. Issued in January 2020 and again produced by Dunn and Greenberg, the record featured saxophonist Skerik plus backing vocals from LaToya Kent, Kyle Kidd, and Lou the Dog. The frenetic, electronic-leaning single “Irreversible Damage,” featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, arrived in 2022. Two additional tracks, the soulful “I Can't Stand It” and the hard-hitting “73%,” followed in 2023, all three appearing on the fourth album, Shook, later that year.
Albums
Shook
2023
There Is No Year
2020
The Underside of Power
2017
Mute Studio Sessions
2015
Algiers
2015
Four Priests
2011
Singles
