Biography
In spring 2009 the Brooklyn outfit Grooms took shape once Travis Johnson, Emily Ambruso, and Gabriel Wurzel decided to rename their earlier project Muggabears. Beginning with the conventional vocals-guitar-bass-drums configuration and incorporating liberal doses of reverb and distortion, the group’s sound fuses the jagged intensity associated with Polvo, the meandering guitar patterns of Pavement, and Sonic Youth’s sustained noise textures, often inside a single composition. October 2009 brought their debut ten-song album Rejoicer on the label run by effects-pedal manufacturer Death by Audio, where Johnson was employed at the factory and Ambruso had previously worked at the adjoining performance space.
March 2010 found Grooms appearing at the South by Southwest festival; three months later Wurzel exited on drums and was succeeded by Jim Sykes (Marnie Stern, Parts & Labor). The band simultaneously moved to Kanine, which reissued Rejoicer. Their second, more atmospheric full-length Prom was tracked at assorted studios and home sites along the East Coast before surfacing in July 2011. Switching to Western Vinyl, the trio delivered Infinity Caller in 2013, placing greater weight on slack-jawed indie-pop elements than on the shoegaze hues explored on Prom. Early 2015 saw the release of their broader and more exploratory fourth album Comb the Feelings Through Your Hair, which introduced the quartet lineup of Johnson, Ambruso, bassist Jay Heiselmann, and drummer-actor Steve Levine. Remaining with Western Vinyl, they followed with the dreamy psychedelia of Exit Index in 2017, much of which was captured during a six-hour session on the final day of operations at New York’s famed Magic Shop studio.
March 2010 found Grooms appearing at the South by Southwest festival; three months later Wurzel exited on drums and was succeeded by Jim Sykes (Marnie Stern, Parts & Labor). The band simultaneously moved to Kanine, which reissued Rejoicer. Their second, more atmospheric full-length Prom was tracked at assorted studios and home sites along the East Coast before surfacing in July 2011. Switching to Western Vinyl, the trio delivered Infinity Caller in 2013, placing greater weight on slack-jawed indie-pop elements than on the shoegaze hues explored on Prom. Early 2015 saw the release of their broader and more exploratory fourth album Comb the Feelings Through Your Hair, which introduced the quartet lineup of Johnson, Ambruso, bassist Jay Heiselmann, and drummer-actor Steve Levine. Remaining with Western Vinyl, they followed with the dreamy psychedelia of Exit Index in 2017, much of which was captured during a six-hour session on the final day of operations at New York’s famed Magic Shop studio.
Albums
Singles
