San Fermin

San Fermin originated as the vision of Ellis Ludwig-Leone from Brooklyn, a musician whose wide-ranging training included studies at Yale followed by hands-on experience alongside avant-garde classical composer Nico Muhly, known for collaborations with Björk, Grizzly Bear, and Antony & the Johnsons. The project surfaced in 2013 through a stylistically varied self-titled debut that blended modern chamber pop with later infusions of electronic pop and experimental rock.

Ludwig-Leone’s first album featured gusty, volatile, avant-garde arrangements grounded in the intimate charm of indie pop, with longtime friend Allen Tate sharing vocal duties alongside Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig from Lucius. Issued in September 2013, the versatile release prompted extensive touring that occupied most of the following two years. The group resurfaced in 2015 with the more experimental second album Jackrabbit, retaining Tate as principal male vocalist while installing Charlene Kaye as permanent live singer in place of Lucius’s group vocals.

In January 2017 San Fermin put out “Open,” the opening single of a pair that included “Bride” the next week, both previewing the April arrival of their third studio album Belong, which leaned further toward pop. Kaye departed in 2019 to focus on solo work, though she contributed to that year’s concert recording Live at the Fillmore and its companion documentary No Promises. Also in 2019 the band issued The Cormorant, the initial installment of a projected two-part studio album exploring childhood and the erosion of innocence.