Biography
Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg, a Long Beach native performing under the name Avi Buffalo, first began composing songs during his sophomore year of high school. He formed a complete band within the following year, bringing in drummer Sheridan Riley, bassist Arin Fazio, and keyboardist Rebecca Coleman. Following a handful of modest live appearances, the group earned the backing of engineer Aaron Embry, who invited them to track material at his home studio. Their distinctive lo-fi pop songs soon caught the ear of Sub Pop Records, which issued the band’s debut single near the end of 2009 and followed it with a self-titled album in April 2010.
Positive critical response secured an extensive European itinerary for summer 2010, including U.K. festival dates at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Green Man, and All Tomorrow’s Parties. Although the trek expanded the group’s audience, Zahner-Isenberg opted for several years of downtime before attempting another full-length record. In the interim he produced tracks for associates including Kevin Litrow’s N.O.W. and Douglas James Sweeney’s Arjuna Genome. On New Year’s Day 2013 he resumed work on fresh Avi Buffalo material at John Vanderslice’s San Francisco studio. Former Girls guitarist John Anderson replaced Fazio on bass for those sessions, while Riley remained on drums through repeated personnel shifts. Shortly afterward, longtime friend Doug Brown assumed the role of touring bassist and Anthony Vezirian joined on keyboards. The resulting album, At Best Cuckold, reached stores in September 2014. Early the next year Zahner-Isenberg posted on Facebook that the band was disbanding, citing exhaustion from touring and the strain the group placed on his private life, yet he pledged to keep writing, recording, and producing on his own.
Positive critical response secured an extensive European itinerary for summer 2010, including U.K. festival dates at Glastonbury, Reading, Leeds, Green Man, and All Tomorrow’s Parties. Although the trek expanded the group’s audience, Zahner-Isenberg opted for several years of downtime before attempting another full-length record. In the interim he produced tracks for associates including Kevin Litrow’s N.O.W. and Douglas James Sweeney’s Arjuna Genome. On New Year’s Day 2013 he resumed work on fresh Avi Buffalo material at John Vanderslice’s San Francisco studio. Former Girls guitarist John Anderson replaced Fazio on bass for those sessions, while Riley remained on drums through repeated personnel shifts. Shortly afterward, longtime friend Doug Brown assumed the role of touring bassist and Anthony Vezirian joined on keyboards. The resulting album, At Best Cuckold, reached stores in September 2014. Early the next year Zahner-Isenberg posted on Facebook that the band was disbanding, citing exhaustion from touring and the strain the group placed on his private life, yet he pledged to keep writing, recording, and producing on his own.
Singles
Live
