Garden City Movement

Israeli trio Garden City Movement formed in 2013 when Tel Aviv residents Roi Avital, Joe Saar, and Johnny Sharoni came together to produce abstract electronic pop. Their sound balances intricate beat construction against yearning, R&B-tinged vocals and melody-driven hooks, with all three members contributing guitar and electronic instrumentation while Avital and Sharoni share vocal duties. Shortly after the group’s inception, Sharoni helped establish BLDG5 Records, which provided a platform for the Tel Aviv indie scene, linked local listeners and artists with international counterparts, and issued recordings by overseas acts. The band’s first EP, Entertainment, surfaced before the year ended, followed closely by Bengali Cinema; the two were later combined into a single album that drew notice from music blogs along with satellite and college radio. The Entertainment cut “Move On” stood out in particular, its video taking Best Video of the Year at the MTV Israel Music Awards and earning a nomination for Best Music Video at the LA Film Festival. Extensive touring ensued, including appearances at Primavera and Glastonbury plus support slots for Alt-J, Cults, and SOHN. In 2015 the third EP, Modern West, appeared as a co-release on The Vinyl Factory. The funk-tinged 2016 single “She’s So Untouchable” received club-oriented remixes from Seven Davis, Jr. and Moscoman, while a Japan-exclusive CD anthology also called Move On came out via Plancha in 2017. That same year the group joined the roster of Night Time Stories, sister label to the Late Night Tales series, and delivered its expansive first full-length, Apollonia, in March 2018.