Hundred Waters

A quartet originating in Gainesville, Florida, Hundred Waters channels the collective sensibilities of Stereolab, the Postal Service, Broadcast, Laura Nyro, and Björk, its understated fusion of acoustic textures and synthesized elements drawing attention from an improbable champion in superstar DJ Skrillex. Nicole Miglis, Trayer Tryon, Paul Giese, Zach Tetreault, and Allen Scott had performed in shifting lineups as middle-school friends, yet the project now known as Hundred Waters did not coalesce until 2011. Shared housing fostered an initial group ethos, though the musicians gradually adopted a solitary workflow in which each member recorded and arranged independently; what began as joint improvisation gave way to separate contributions to identical tracks from different rooms. This shift yielded more deliberate results, which the Elestial label issued in 2012 as the self-titled debut album. Skrillex encountered the record and added the band to his OWSLA roster the same year. AraabMuzik, Star Slinger, and Troublemaker supplied remixes for the label’s first Hundred Waters outing, the 2012 EP Thistle. The 2014 follow-up, The Moon Rang Like a Bell, expanded the group’s layered collage of sampled fragments and exacting electronics. Greater touring experience informed the sessions, after earlier material had proved cumbersome to replicate onstage. A standalone single, “Forgive Me for Giving Up,” appeared in 2016, preceding the September 2017 release of the third album, Communicating.