Diane Coffee

Shaun Fleming, the drummer for Foxygen, channels an expansive array of 1960s folk-pop, doo wop, and bubblegum sources alongside classic rock into the eccentric, swaggering indie rock that defines his Diane Coffee project. The outfit’s opening effort, the psychedelic-leaning My Friend Fish, appeared near the end of 2013. Its technology-focused third album, Internet Arms, surfaced in 2019 and embraced a deliberately contemporary, electronic palette, whereas With People, issued in 2022, leaned into the gentler textures of 1970s and 1980s soft rock and felt more intimate.

Once a child voice-over performer in Disney productions, Fleming launched Diane Coffee toward the close of 2012 upon relocating from Agoura Hills, California, to New York City. Almost immediately after arrival he contracted a severe flu that confined him to his small apartment for weeks; during that stretch of isolation he composed and tracked the material that became My Friend Fish. Western Vinyl Records issued the album in late 2013, after which touring commenced.

Fleming subsequently settled in Bloomington, Indiana, where he prepared a follow-up. Everybody’s a Good Dog arrived in 2015, captured in a professional studio with an expanded cast of musicians and more elaborate arrangements. Diane Coffee resurfaced in 2017 with the 7-inch Peel, whose tracks drew from urban legends Fleming recalled from his youth. He portrayed King Herod in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2018 production of Jesus Christ Superstar before reentering the studio later that year. Addressing the widening gap between real and virtual identities, the third long-player Internet Arms was released by Polyvinyl in 2019. The even more reflective With People, also on Polyvinyl, followed in 2022; Jonathan Rado of Foxygen produced it and Deep Sea Diver contributed a guest appearance. By the time the record emerged that April, Fleming had established his home base in Los Angeles.