Priests

Priests treat post-punk less as a fixed genre than as an ongoing stance of resistance and inquiry, drawing on punk’s sonic and ethical foundations while freely incorporating jazz, disco, electronics, and spoken-word passages. The group extends Washington, D.C.’s long-standing DIY tradition by operating its own imprint, Sister Polygon, and compensating support acts equitably; its listening habits encompass Fugazi alongside less predictable touchstones such as Portishead and Nine Inch Nails. Their 2017 debut, Nothing Feels Natural, confronted both intimate and civic concerns through a blend of fury, wit, and reflection that connected with audiences navigating the unsettled final years of the decade. The follow-up, 2019’s The Seduction of Kansas, refined the band’s attack without softening its edge, underscoring Priests’ insistence on determining their own artistic boundaries.

Founding drummer and vocalist Daniele Daniele relocated from Brooklyn to Washington, D.C., in 2012 to pursue a master’s degree in English at Georgetown University. Soon afterward she met singer Katie Greer at a concert, and the two began performing together. At another show Greer encountered guitarist G.L. Jaguar, previously known only through social media, and the three musicians began rehearsing in a Maryland basement. Their initial recordings, collected as Tape 1, were self-released in January 2012. Later that year bassist Taylor Mulitz joined after Greer’s touring commitments with Chain & the Gang kept her out of town. In December 2012 the quartet issued the Radiation/Personal Planes seven-inch—the first release on Sister Polygon, which also lists Downtown Boys and Snail Mail among its roster—and their first collaboration with producer Kevin Erickson. Tape Two, the earliest material to feature Mulitz, appeared in June 2013. The 2014 mini-album Bodies and Control and Money and Power, recorded with additional production from Black Eyes’ Hugh McElroy, brought wider notice.

When the band traveled to Olympia, Washington, to lay down its first full-length, the sessions proved unsatisfying, prompting a return to D.C. for re-recording with McElroy and Erickson. The resulting album, Nothing Feels Natural, reached listeners in January 2017 to widespread praise and sustained touring. Mulitz departed late that year to concentrate on his other project, Flasher. For the next record, Greer, Jaguar, and Daniele enlisted touring bassist Alexandra Tyson and multi-instrumentalist Janel Leppin—already a contributor to Nothing Feels Natural—while drawing fresh inspiration from Nine Inch Nails, Portishead, Massive Attack, and Thomas Frank’s 2004 book What’s the Matter with Kansas? John Congleton produced the sessions, and The Seduction of Kansas was released in April 2019.