Diagrams

Diagrams serves as the solo outlet for electric/folk artist Sam Genders, whose earlier affiliations include Tunng and the Accidental. A shifting roster of supporting players helps fuse psychedelia, electronica, and folk into a single sound. Genders had previously co-founded folktronica group Tunng, which concluded its run in 2011; afterward he embarked on solo work and chose a sharper course. In contrast to Tunng, Diagrams favors angular textures over lo-fi atmospheres. Soon after forming the project, Genders issued his self-titled debut EP on Full Time Hobby, mixing overtly electronic cuts with softer folk material. Mark Brydon of Moloko and Cloud Nine produced both that EP and the first full-length, 2012’s Black Light. Once the album appeared, Genders gathered musicians for live dates, enlarging the onstage group to about nine players who swap roles according to availability. His move from London to Sheffield around 2013 postponed the follow-up, ultimately releasing the 2015 album Chromatics. For the 2017 set Dorothy, Genders pursued an unusual collaboration with poet Dorothy Trogden after encountering her anthology Tall Woman Looking. Several email exchanges shaped the lyrics and themes. The record appeared via self-release, financed entirely through Kickstarter, with production input from Mike Lindsay of Tunng and Speech Debelle plus Kristofer Harris of Smoke Fairies and Clock Opera, and arrangements supplied by Kelly Pratt of Arcade Fire and St. Vincent.