Chromatics

After beginning life as a harsh post-punk outfit, Chromatics developed into one of electro-pop’s most defining groups. Their studio efforts Night Drive and Kill for Love, together with numerous film and television soundtrack contributions, showcased a singular blend of Italo-disco, post-punk, and ’80s pop that felt simultaneously glamorous, heartbroken, and unmistakably their own. Equal to their musical skill was a flair for self-mythologizing; the band repeatedly surprised listeners by dropping Closer to Grey in 2019 and Faded Now in 2020 while anticipation built for the long-promised Dear Tommy.

Portland, Oregon guitarist Adam Miller launched Chromatics in 2001 as a solo venture and issued the 7" Beach of Infants/Steps that year on Hand Held Heart Records. By the single’s appearance Miller had switched to vocals; guitarist Devin Welch, future Gossip drummer Hannah Blilie (both previously of Seattle’s Soiled Doves), and bassist Michelle Nolan completed the lineup. This configuration delivered the 2003 debut Chrome Rats vs. Basement Rutz before Nolan, Blilie, and Welch left to start Shoplifting. Plaster Hounds, released in 2004, featured Miller on vocals and guitar alongside Get Hustle percussionist Ron Avila and bassist Nat Sahlstrom, yet Miller soon performed the material with only a drum machine and Lena Okazaki on bass.

The project’s roster stabilized in 2005 once vocalist Ruth Radelet, drummer/keyboardist Nat Walker, and producer/multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel (also of Glass Candy) joined Miller. The following year’s In the City EP extended the electronic-pop direction fully realized on 2007’s widely praised Night Drive. The album appeared on Italians Do It Better, the label Jewel created for Glass Candy, Chromatics, and additional ventures including his duo Symmetry with Walker. That same year’s label compilation After Dark gathered several non-album tracks and demos by the band. Although Chromatics issued little fresh material for years afterward, their profile rose when Night Drive’s “Tick of the Clock” was placed in Nicolas Winding Refn’s 2011 film Drive and its soundtrack; the group’s music also surfaced on Symmetry’s Themes for an Imaginary Film, a collection of pieces Jewel had prepared for the score ultimately composed by Cliff Martinez.

The long-awaited fourth album Kill for Love arrived in early 2012 and was followed months later by Drumless, a drum-free collection of eleven tracks offered as a free download. Late in 2014 the band announced that Dear Tommy was forthcoming and released several singles from it in 2015, among them “I Can Never Be Myself When You’re Around,” “Just Like You,” and “In Films.” Additional 2015 releases, including the single “Yes (Love Theme from Lost River)” heard in Ryan Gosling’s directorial debut Lost River and a set of covers of Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” preceded the album. In 2017 Jewel’s manager disclosed that a near-death experience on Christmas Day 2015 had prompted Jewel to destroy all physical copies of Dear Tommy, though a stronger version had already been recorded. The same year Johnny Jewel’s album Windswept incorporated Chromatics material alongside work from Jewel’s other projects and solo recordings. Chromatics’ song “Shadow” also appeared on the 2017 soundtrack album Twin Peaks (Music from the Limited Event Series), further extending the band’s cinematic placements.

Scattered one-off singles and EPs sustained fans until the surprise appearance of fifth album Closer to Grey in October 2019. Although Dear Tommy remained unrealized, the group maintained that it was still in progress and that Closer to Grey contained none of its material. Several months afterward came the surprise 2020 release Faded Now, assembled from alternate mixes, outtakes, and other pieces, many of which had already featured on a deluxe edition of Closer to Grey.