Biography
Hospital Ships took its moniker from the Flaming Lips track “The Abandoned Hospital Ship” and originated in 2007 when Lawrence, Kansas native Jordan Geiger launched it as a solo home-recording endeavor. Geiger already possessed an eclectic résumé that began in 2000 as frontman and principal songwriter for the neo-psych outfit Minus Story; in 2003 he joined emo-rock band the Appleseed Cast on keyboards, and four years afterward he performed trumpet and keyboards while touring with the reflective indie group Shearwater. Those experiences merged with classic touchstones such as Buddy Holly, the Zombies, and ELO, yielding a sound that shifts between orchestral pop, folk ballads, and straight-ahead rock, all driven by Geiger’s emotionally charged lyrics and youthful tenor reminiscent of Wayne Coyne, Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle, and Daniel Johnston. With assistance from several Minus Story associates, the project’s first full-length, Oh, Ramona—a title referencing Geiger’s cat—emerged on Graveface Records in 2008 and examined broken relationships alongside personal growth; its successor, Lonely Twin, followed in summer 2011. By 2013 Hospital Ships had evolved from Geiger’s one-man recordings into a complete quartet that also included multi-instrumentalists Nathan Dixey, Taylor Holenbeck, and Nathan Wilder. The four-piece completed international tours before releasing its third album, Destruction in Yr Soul. After that record appeared, Geiger relocated to Austin, Texas and assembled his next project with Swans percussionist Thor Harris plus additional collaborators instead of the prior full-band configuration. Drawing from Arthur Russell and Steve Reich, the sessions incorporated analog synthesizers and stacked samples culled from Geiger’s earlier work, resulting in The Past Is Not a Flood, which Graveface issued in March 2016.
Albums
