Biography
Chicago musician Brett Sova oversees the psychedelic outfit Axis: Sova, whose sound merges trippy and art-damaged lo-fi boogie rock with driving drum-machine pulses and heavy layers of effects. What began as Sova’s solo effort, including the entirely self-performed 2012 album Weight of a Color, later expanded into a full band that handles both live shows and recordings such as the 2018 release Shampoo You along with the 2023 album Blinded by Oblivion, produced by Ty Segall.
Sova launched Axis: Sova during summer 2009 as his prior group Mass Shivers wound down. Offered a solo opening slot at the reunion performance of Chicago indie rockers Mantis, he delivered an unbroken psyched-out guitar solo; when Mass Shivers members could not join him for another gig months afterward, Axis: Sova stepped in, effectively concluding the earlier band and redirecting his energies. The project’s name reflected that period’s deep interest in Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 psych-rock landmark Axis: Bold as Love.
Early work stayed solo, beginning with the 2011 7" (I Feel Like) Laying Low issued on Sova’s own Licking River imprint. Material tracked the same year surfaced as the debut full-length Weight of a Color in 2012, followed the next year by the Suicide-informed 7" Past the Edge on Richie Records. The 2014 cassette Worse Fools Cease to Be a Shadow marked the first recordings made by an expanded studio lineup, its mellow psych-rock pieces largely improvised; prior to this point every release had been created solely by Sova, with friends contributing only onstage.
Axis: Sova supported several dates on a Ty Segall tour that autumn, leading to the 2015 release of their sophomore LP Early Surf on Segall’s God Records. Motor Earth appeared the following year. With the core trio of Sova, guitarist Tim Kaiser, and bassist Jeremy Freeze in place, the band captured Shampoo You live to tape for its 2018 release. Subsequent years brought limited-output projects, among them the 2020 single “Strawberry Glaze”/“Fever Days,” the four-song EP Fractal in 2021, and the wildly lo-fi 7" (I Feel Like) Laying Low in March 2023.
October 2023 saw the arrival of Blinded by Oblivion on the longstanding indie label Drag City. This became the first Axis: Sova album after Kaiser’s exit, leaving the group a power trio completed by Sova, Freeze, and live drummer Josh Johannpeter. Ty Segall and the band co-produced the set, and the two acts toured together near its release.
Sova launched Axis: Sova during summer 2009 as his prior group Mass Shivers wound down. Offered a solo opening slot at the reunion performance of Chicago indie rockers Mantis, he delivered an unbroken psyched-out guitar solo; when Mass Shivers members could not join him for another gig months afterward, Axis: Sova stepped in, effectively concluding the earlier band and redirecting his energies. The project’s name reflected that period’s deep interest in Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 psych-rock landmark Axis: Bold as Love.
Early work stayed solo, beginning with the 2011 7" (I Feel Like) Laying Low issued on Sova’s own Licking River imprint. Material tracked the same year surfaced as the debut full-length Weight of a Color in 2012, followed the next year by the Suicide-informed 7" Past the Edge on Richie Records. The 2014 cassette Worse Fools Cease to Be a Shadow marked the first recordings made by an expanded studio lineup, its mellow psych-rock pieces largely improvised; prior to this point every release had been created solely by Sova, with friends contributing only onstage.
Axis: Sova supported several dates on a Ty Segall tour that autumn, leading to the 2015 release of their sophomore LP Early Surf on Segall’s God Records. Motor Earth appeared the following year. With the core trio of Sova, guitarist Tim Kaiser, and bassist Jeremy Freeze in place, the band captured Shampoo You live to tape for its 2018 release. Subsequent years brought limited-output projects, among them the 2020 single “Strawberry Glaze”/“Fever Days,” the four-song EP Fractal in 2021, and the wildly lo-fi 7" (I Feel Like) Laying Low in March 2023.
October 2023 saw the arrival of Blinded by Oblivion on the longstanding indie label Drag City. This became the first Axis: Sova album after Kaiser’s exit, leaving the group a power trio completed by Sova, Freeze, and live drummer Josh Johannpeter. Ty Segall and the band co-produced the set, and the two acts toured together near its release.
Albums
Blinded By Oblivion
2023
Fractal
2021
Shampoo You
2018
Motor Earth
2016
Early Surf
2015
(I Feel Like) Laying Low
2011
Singles
