Rolo Tomassi

Britain's Rolo Tomassi came together in Sheffield during 2005 under the leadership of siblings Eva Korman and James Spence, who named the project after a fictional persona from Curtis Hanson's neo-noir picture L.A. Confidential. Alongside guitarist Joe Nicholson, bassist Joseph Thorpe, and drummer Edward Dutton, the group quickly became a steady presence on the city's rock scene, issuing several self-funded EPs via the Holy Roar imprint before securing a deal with Hassle Records in 2008. That same year brought appearances at Download Festival, support slots on U.K. runs with Gallows and Throats, and the arrival of their first full-length, Hysterics.

Drawing from an array of sources that included U.S. metallers Converge, prog rockers King Crimson, and jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, the band forged a fiercely eclectic style fusing math-hardcore, acid jazz, and progressive punk. Their sophomore effort, Cosmology, arrived in 2010 under the guidance of M.I.A. producer Diplo and marked an early high point on Hassle; the same period also saw a Channel 4 collaboration with Biffy Clyro and the self-released compilation Eternal Youth on their own Destination Moon label, a collection containing thirty-six previously unheard tracks.

Nicholson and Thorpe exited in 2012, prompting the addition of Chris Crayford from No Coast and Nathan Fairweather from Brontide just before the band issued Astraea, its third album and first on a new independent outlet. The record signaled both a refreshed roster and a tighter sonic direction that carried forward through Grievances in 2015, Time Will Die and Love Will Bury It in 2018, and Where Myth Becomes Memory in 2022. After Grievances, drummer Edward Dutton gave way to Tom Pitts, while the 2018 set embraced a brighter, more hopeful palette and the 2022 release delivered a precisely calibrated balance of intimate and expansive gestures.