Echo Lake

South London shoegaze duo Echo Lake formed in late 2010 when producer and multi-instrumentalist Thom Hill crossed paths with vocalist Linda Jarvis during their time at art school. Jarvis had sung in choirs earlier in life, while Hill had long admired the landmark albums of shoegaze and dream pop. The pair devoted themselves to painstaking studio work, surfacing publicly for the first time in early 2011 with the Young Silence EP, issued by the London indie label No Pain in Pop. Although they composed and tracked everything strictly as a duo, live performances occasionally expanded the lineup to five members. Additional 7-inch releases followed, including a track on a various-artists compilation, before the band unveiled its debut album, Wild Peace, in summer 2012. No Pain in Pop handled the U.K. edition, while Slumberland Records issued the record in the United States. The album’s arrival came just as the group suffered the sudden loss of drummer Pete Hayes, who was 25. After a period of recovery, Echo Lake resumed work at Holy Mountain Studios with their friend Misha Herring, devoting two years to the more sweeping and ambitious Era. Timothy Stollenwerk, whose mastering credits include Grouper’s Dragging a Dead Deer Up a Hill—one of the band’s favorite records—finalized the mixes, and No Pain in Pop released the album in early 2015.