Biography
Diego Garcia fronted Elefant, a group that occupied a modest place within the fashionable indie rock movement of early-2000s New York City that drew heavily from 1980s aesthetics. Over the course of their run the band issued two albums, channeling 1980s British indie rock and new wave on the debut Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid while shifting toward dance grooves on the follow-up, Black Magic Show. The outfit formally disbanded in 2010, prompting Garcia to begin a solo career.
Although born in Detroit, Garcia relocated repeatedly during childhood, living for a time in Argentina, the country of his parents’ birth, before settling in Tampa, Florida. It was there that he purchased an acoustic guitar at age 14 and commenced writing original songs. Music stayed an extracurricular activity until Garcia finished his degree at Brown University in 2000, after which he abandoned plans for a career in economics and moved to New York City. Once there he assembled musicians to form Elefant, recruiting bassist Jeff Berrall, guitarist Mod, and drummer Kevin McAdams. Their sound drew substantially from the Smiths and the Cure; a four-song demo recorded in that style led to a contract with Kemado, a local independent label founded in 2002.
Kemado put out the Gallery Girl EP in February 2003 and, two months later, the band’s atmospheric debut album Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid. When Garcia and his bandmates resurfaced in April 2006 with The Black Magic Show they had folded hard-rock guitars and dance rhythms into their approach, prompting comparisons to Bloc Party and the Killers. Like its predecessor, The Black Magic Show earned positive notices, yet it proved to be the group’s final release. After a three-year hiatus Elefant reconvened briefly in 2009 to begin work on a third album that never appeared; instead, a terse MySpace message announced the band’s official breakup in June 2010.
Although born in Detroit, Garcia relocated repeatedly during childhood, living for a time in Argentina, the country of his parents’ birth, before settling in Tampa, Florida. It was there that he purchased an acoustic guitar at age 14 and commenced writing original songs. Music stayed an extracurricular activity until Garcia finished his degree at Brown University in 2000, after which he abandoned plans for a career in economics and moved to New York City. Once there he assembled musicians to form Elefant, recruiting bassist Jeff Berrall, guitarist Mod, and drummer Kevin McAdams. Their sound drew substantially from the Smiths and the Cure; a four-song demo recorded in that style led to a contract with Kemado, a local independent label founded in 2002.
Kemado put out the Gallery Girl EP in February 2003 and, two months later, the band’s atmospheric debut album Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid. When Garcia and his bandmates resurfaced in April 2006 with The Black Magic Show they had folded hard-rock guitars and dance rhythms into their approach, prompting comparisons to Bloc Party and the Killers. Like its predecessor, The Black Magic Show earned positive notices, yet it proved to be the group’s final release. After a three-year hiatus Elefant reconvened briefly in 2009 to begin work on a third album that never appeared; instead, a terse MySpace message announced the band’s official breakup in June 2010.
Albums
Singles
