Glass Candy

Portland, Oregon's dark electro/synth pop duo Glass Candy underwent substantial evolution throughout its measured yet impressive trajectory. Vocalist Ida No first crossed paths with producer and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Jewel in 1996 while he worked at a neighborhood grocery store, prompting the project's formation. Initial recordings appeared under the name Glass Candy & the Shattered Theatre and blended gritty, droney new wave textures with theatrical flair. The band issued its own 7" singles, starting with Brittle Women in 1999 and continuing with Metal Gods in 2001. A late-2000 tour alongside Baltimore post-hardcore outfit the Convocation Of... yielded the live document Smashed Candy, captured on an imperfect cassette from one performance. Multiple drummers passed through the lineup in those formative years—Avalon Kalin, Dusty Sparkles, Ginger Peaches, and Jimi Hey among them—supplying beats while the group progressed from art-rock beginnings through glam phases toward synthetic disco.

Still operating within an art-rock framework, Glass Candy delivered its debut proper album, Love Love Love, via Troubleman Unlimited in 2003. Subsequent 7" singles and EPs appeared steadily, each one edging the sound nearer to disco and electro influences. In 2006 Jewel established the Italians Do It Better imprint as an offshoot of Troubleman Unlimited, directing attention toward 12" releases and compilations featuring kindred disco-oriented acts such as Nite Jewel and the Glass Candy offshoot the Chromatics. The 2007 arrival of second album B/E/A/T/B/O/X marked the completed shift from ragged art punks to sleek disco performers, a direction further underscored by the 2008 dance-oriented B-side and remix set Deep Gems. Jewel maintained activity on the Italians Do It Better label and with the Chromatics while painstaking work on Glass Candy's third album, Body Work, commenced in 2011 and extended across several years amid the duo's increasing appearances at major festivals and fashion-industry events. An extended single of "Warm in the Winter" surfaced in 2011 and later found placement in multiple films, television programs, and advertising campaigns. The 2013 Italians Do It Better compilation After Dark 2 included Glass Candy's "Redheads Feel More Pain," and the group supplied "Shell Game" to Jewel's 2015 soundtrack for the film Lost River.