Biography
Years of informal partnership preceded the 2015 festival appearance where Chris Rosenau from Collections of Colonies of Bees joined Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso for an unscripted, relaxed duo performance. The two longtime friends discovered an instant rapport despite having no preset agenda, prompting them to meet more often and eventually preserve the easygoing essence of those meetings in the rustic textures of Bluebird, the 2019 release issued under the Rosenau & Sanborn moniker.
Experimental guitarist Chris Rosenau and multi-instrumentalist/engineer Nick Sanborn had already shared extensive history both inside Collections of Colonies of Bees and across additional projects. During the debut edition of Eaux Claires Festival—a music and arts event founded by Aaron Dessner of the National and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver—the pair had been booked for a short improvised set yet extended the performance to nearly an hour, deeply affected by the bond they felt onstage. Return appearances followed for the next two years; then, in October 2017, they convened at a wooded North Carolina studio to lay down ideas they had developed over time. A single weekend spent capturing guitar and electronics yielded rough mixes that retained abundant incidental sounds—chirping birds, ambient woodland noises, and sporadic dog barks—because the sessions had been so informal. Instead of treating the recordings as preliminary sketches for a polished album, Rosenau & Sanborn retained every raw element and presented their debut effort with minimal editing. The resulting five-song collection Bluebird reached listeners via the Psychic Hotline label during summer 2019.
Experimental guitarist Chris Rosenau and multi-instrumentalist/engineer Nick Sanborn had already shared extensive history both inside Collections of Colonies of Bees and across additional projects. During the debut edition of Eaux Claires Festival—a music and arts event founded by Aaron Dessner of the National and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver—the pair had been booked for a short improvised set yet extended the performance to nearly an hour, deeply affected by the bond they felt onstage. Return appearances followed for the next two years; then, in October 2017, they convened at a wooded North Carolina studio to lay down ideas they had developed over time. A single weekend spent capturing guitar and electronics yielded rough mixes that retained abundant incidental sounds—chirping birds, ambient woodland noises, and sporadic dog barks—because the sessions had been so informal. Instead of treating the recordings as preliminary sketches for a polished album, Rosenau & Sanborn retained every raw element and presented their debut effort with minimal editing. The resulting five-song collection Bluebird reached listeners via the Psychic Hotline label during summer 2019.
Albums
Singles
