Biography
Carlos Hernandez, a musician of many dimensions, cultivates an artistic strain of indie funk distinguished by fluid vocal delivery and elaborate musical structures, qualities that surface across his contributions to Ava Luna as well as his infrequent solo outings issued under the alias Carlos Truly. The group Ava Luna surfaced toward the end of the 2000s, leaning on layered vocal harmonies, open-ended forms, and angular percussive frameworks before steering toward greater organization with the 2014 album Electric Balloon. Three releases later, the still more polished Moon 2 from 2018 represented a more collective endeavor once Hernandez eased away from a central directing position. That same year he issued his first Carlos Truly project, On Folly. Co-produced by Truly and producer/rapper Tony Seltzer, the next album, 2022’s Not Mine, featured a collaboration with Nick Hakim. Across the indie landscape Hernandez has handled production, arrangements, and composition for artists ranging from Mr. Twin Sister and Frankie Cosmos to Speedy Ortiz, while also serving as co-founder of indie pop trio NADINE.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Hernandez received a city-wide award for classical composition at age 17. Ava Luna originated in his high school bedroom, where he composed and captured material under the name Ava. During college he connected with Julian Fader and Nathan Tompkins; the three then altered the band’s title to Ava Luna, reasoning that “Ava” was probably already taken by a more prominent act somewhere. After graduation Hernandez worked as an engineer and pursued assorted small-scale noise and punk endeavors while Ava Luna periodically receded from view. Their unofficial debut arrived via the self-released Lemming in 2007. With the 2009 homemade CD-R 3rd Avenue Island the band reassembled once more, this time placing Hernandez on vocals alongside multiple singers and a stripped-down instrumental setting of drums and synthesizers.
They followed with the 2010 Services EP, which introduced a new configuration and continued shifting toward the dense vocal harmonies associated with bands like Dirty Projectors while incorporating increasingly unconventional neo-soul-inspired backdrops, an approach that would later characterize Hernandez’s Carlos Truly output. A formal Ava Luna debut appeared in 2012 with Ice Level. By then the lineup had stabilized around Hernandez on vocals and guitar, Fader on drums, Tompkins on synths, Ethan Bassford on bass, and vocalists Felicia Douglass, Becca Kauffman, and Anna Sian. The band delivered the comparatively orderly Electric Balloon in 2014 and the still more conventional art-funk and R&B-infused collection Infinite House the following year.
After that release several members turned to separate projects, including Kauffman’s launch of the performance art endeavor Jennifer Vanilla, Douglass’s releases under the name Gemma, and Fader’s formation of Coffee. Fader and Hernandez also recorded a debut album with vocalist Nadia Hulett as NADINE. Meanwhile Hernandez and Fader produced and engineered material for artists including Frankie Cosmos, Mr. Twin Sister, and Speedy Ortiz. When a five-piece version of Ava Luna (Hernandez, Fader, Kauffman, Douglass, and Bassford) reconvened in late 2017, Hernandez assumed a reduced leadership role and Kauffman contributed her first composition for the group. The band presented a reinterpretation of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson in March 2018, after which Douglass began touring with Dirty Projectors as a percussionist/vocalist; the group then released Moon 2 in September. During the same period Hernandez captured his Carlos Truly debut, drawing on contributions from jazz guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, producer/rapper Tony Seltzer, and Fader on drums. The resulting On Folly appeared via Gravesend Recordings, also in 2018.
With Ava Luna on pause, Hernandez revisited solo work and co-produced the 2020 Canal EP alongside Seltzer. The pair later reconvened for Carlos Truly’s second full-length. Not Mine, which surfaced on Bayonet Records in mid-2022, included the track “Vessel,” written and produced by Hernandez with Nick Hakim.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Hernandez received a city-wide award for classical composition at age 17. Ava Luna originated in his high school bedroom, where he composed and captured material under the name Ava. During college he connected with Julian Fader and Nathan Tompkins; the three then altered the band’s title to Ava Luna, reasoning that “Ava” was probably already taken by a more prominent act somewhere. After graduation Hernandez worked as an engineer and pursued assorted small-scale noise and punk endeavors while Ava Luna periodically receded from view. Their unofficial debut arrived via the self-released Lemming in 2007. With the 2009 homemade CD-R 3rd Avenue Island the band reassembled once more, this time placing Hernandez on vocals alongside multiple singers and a stripped-down instrumental setting of drums and synthesizers.
They followed with the 2010 Services EP, which introduced a new configuration and continued shifting toward the dense vocal harmonies associated with bands like Dirty Projectors while incorporating increasingly unconventional neo-soul-inspired backdrops, an approach that would later characterize Hernandez’s Carlos Truly output. A formal Ava Luna debut appeared in 2012 with Ice Level. By then the lineup had stabilized around Hernandez on vocals and guitar, Fader on drums, Tompkins on synths, Ethan Bassford on bass, and vocalists Felicia Douglass, Becca Kauffman, and Anna Sian. The band delivered the comparatively orderly Electric Balloon in 2014 and the still more conventional art-funk and R&B-infused collection Infinite House the following year.
After that release several members turned to separate projects, including Kauffman’s launch of the performance art endeavor Jennifer Vanilla, Douglass’s releases under the name Gemma, and Fader’s formation of Coffee. Fader and Hernandez also recorded a debut album with vocalist Nadia Hulett as NADINE. Meanwhile Hernandez and Fader produced and engineered material for artists including Frankie Cosmos, Mr. Twin Sister, and Speedy Ortiz. When a five-piece version of Ava Luna (Hernandez, Fader, Kauffman, Douglass, and Bassford) reconvened in late 2017, Hernandez assumed a reduced leadership role and Kauffman contributed her first composition for the group. The band presented a reinterpretation of Serge Gainsbourg’s Histoire de Melody Nelson in March 2018, after which Douglass began touring with Dirty Projectors as a percussionist/vocalist; the group then released Moon 2 in September. During the same period Hernandez captured his Carlos Truly debut, drawing on contributions from jazz guitarist Wendy Eisenberg, producer/rapper Tony Seltzer, and Fader on drums. The resulting On Folly appeared via Gravesend Recordings, also in 2018.
With Ava Luna on pause, Hernandez revisited solo work and co-produced the 2020 Canal EP alongside Seltzer. The pair later reconvened for Carlos Truly’s second full-length. Not Mine, which surfaced on Bayonet Records in mid-2022, included the track “Vessel,” written and produced by Hernandez with Nick Hakim.
Albums
Singles
