Gardens & Villa

The synth-driven indie pop outfit Gardens & Villa came together in Santa Barbara, California, during 2008. Guitarist Christopher Lynch, keyboardist Adam Rasmussen, bassist Shane McKillop, and drummer Levi Hayden already had a collection of sugary, celebratory songs prepared when they headed to Oregon to lay down their self-titled debut. Secretly Canadian labelmate Richard Swift guided the sessions, which wrapped in two weeks, and the album appeared in summer 2011. Dustin Ineman joined around the same period to handle keyboards and percussion during live performances, later becoming a permanent member ahead of the follow-up. Tim Goldsworthy, formerly of the DFA collective, produced the dancier and more focused Dunes, which was tracked at Michigan’s Key Club studio in 2014. Persistent touring prompted Hayden’s exit, after which Ineman concentrated on percussion for the 2015 LP Music for Dogs, a hooky and experimental post-punk brew helmed by Jacob Portrait of Unknown Mortal Orchestra.