Grouplove

Hailing from Los Angeles, Grouplove fuse an off-kilter indie-rock approach steeped in 1990s aesthetics with a buoyant, large-scale sonic punch. That distinctive approach surfaced on their 2011 release Never Trust a Happy Song, which yielded the chart-topping Billboard Alternative Songs single “Tongue Tied.” The group has sustained a position bridging indie credibility and broader appeal, appearing at festivals worldwide while consistently placing in the upper ranks of the Billboard Alternative listings via Spreading Rumours in 2013 and Healer in 2020. They also reached the upper half of the Alternative Airplay survey with “Deadline,” taken from the 2021 album This Is This, and “Hello,” drawn from 2023’s I Want It All Right Now.

The band coalesced in the late 2000s through the combined efforts of Hannah Hooper, Christian Zucconi, Sean Gadd, Ryan Rabin—whose father is Yes guitarist Trevor Rabin—and Andrew Wessen. New York natives Hooper and Zucconi serendipitously connected with the other three participants during an artistic retreat on the Greek island of Crete. Prior to dispersing toward their respective homes, the five future members sketched out intentions to regroup and capture some of the material they had begun developing, which led to swift recording sessions at Rabin’s Los Angeles facility where the collective formally committed to the project. Their self-titled debut EP arrived via Canvasback in 2010.

While sharing stages with Florence + the Machine in the early part of the next year, Grouplove completed arrangements for their first full-length effort, Never Trust a Happy Song, issued that autumn. The set climbed to number 75 on the Billboard 200 and contained four singles—“Colours,” “Lovely Cup,” “Itchin’ on a Photograph,” and the breakthrough “Tongue Tied,” which ascended to the summit of the Billboard Alternative Songs chart.

The follow-up long-player Spreading Rumours surfaced in 2013. Powered by the track “I’m with You,” it attained number 21 on the Billboard 200 and number seven on the Top Rock Albums tally. The subsequent year Gadd departed, with Dan Gleason stepping in on bass. Grouplove contributed the song “No Drama Queen” to the soundtrack of the 2015 motion picture Paper Towns.

Their third studio album Big Mess emerged in 2016, highlighted by the single “Welcome to Your Life.” Crafted under the guidance of producer Phil Ek, the record reflected a more refined sonic palette and addressed personal developments following the arrival of Zucconi and Hooper’s first child, reaching number 13 on the Alternative Albums Chart and number 40 on the Billboard 200. After headlining their own global trek, the band supported Imagine Dragons on the road in early 2017 and issued the EP Little Mess that May.

Grouplove’s fourth album Healer appeared in 2020, introduced by the single “Deleter.” Production credits included TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek alongside Malay, and the project attained number five on Billboard’s Alternative Albums Chart. They followed swiftly with This Is This in March 2021. The release, which delved into motifs of tension and unease, was helmed primarily by the band with additional input from Ricardo Acasuso as well as returning collaborators Sitek and Malay; it featured the single “Deadline,” which peaked at number 28 on the Alternative Airplay chart. Both “Hello” and “All” surfaced in 2023 as the initial offerings from their sixth album, the John Congleton-produced I Want It All Right Now.