Guppyboy

In 1992 Burlington, Vermont gave rise to Guppyboy, an indie pop ensemble whose sound remained light and mostly understated while carrying faint psychedelic traces of Elephant 6. Guitarist and singer Christopher Ziter, organist and vocalist Sasha Bell, guitarist-bassist-singer Zach Ward, and guitarists Jeff Baron and Michael Barrett formed the primary roster, though frequent personnel adjustments marked the group’s short run. Their lone full-length album, Jeffersonville, surfaced in 1997 on Sudden Shame Records. Two 7-inch singles followed: the 1994 debut Shee and the three-song York single issued three years later. An impressive twenty-two cassette titles also appeared during the same period. Midway through their existence the musicians shifted operations to Chicago for eighteen months before resettling in Vermont. Four additional tracks found homes on independent-label compilations. When the band dissolved in the late 1990s its members relocated to New York City, where several reconstituted themselves as the Essex Green and took up roles in Ladybug Transistor and the Sixth Great Lake.