Cayetana

Originating in the same Philadelphia DIY punk milieu that spawned peers such as Waxahatchee, Radiator Hospital, and Modern Baseball, the lo-fi trio Cayetana formed in 2012. Kelly Olsen and Allegra Anka first connected as students at a college in New York, then returned to their native city, where they met Augusta Koch. Though none of the three possessed formal training on their instruments, they began creating music with borrowed gear, drawing on the confrontational ethos of riot grrrl bands Sleater-Kinney and Bikini Kill while incorporating indie-rock sensibilities reminiscent of Guided by Voices and the Mountain Goats. Shortly after assembling, the group posted a home-recorded, three-track demo online and committed to playing live at every available opportunity. Independent label Tiny Engines heard the material and offered them a deal for their debut album. The members spent additional time refining the songs before tracking them with engineer Matt Schimelfenig—whose credits include Torres, the War on Drugs, and the Menzingers—across sessions in 2013 and 2014. The resulting album, Nervous Like Me, appeared in mid-2014. Two years afterward they issued the Tired Eyes EP, and in 2017 they released their second full-length, New Kind of Normal, on the band’s own Plum Records imprint, where it earned widespread critical acclaim.