Sim Redmond Band

Emerging from Ithaca, New York's I-Town Records collective—a network whose cooperative approach to music-making and operations echoes that of Athens' Elephant 6 Recording Company—the Sim Redmond Band revolves around singer and songwriter Sim Redmond. Alongside his brother Asa on drums, Redmond began performing as teenagers in modest groups such as Ginger and the Ducktape Band. By the late 1990s the lineup stabilized when bassist Dan Merwin and lead guitarist Jordan Aceto joined.

Redmond first crossed paths with vocalist and songwriter Uniit Carruyo during a 1998 open-mic evening at Collegetown Bagels in Ithaca. She soon became a member, enabling the group to perform more regularly. Their debut album, The Things We Keep, was tracked in early 1999 and issued on the fledgling I-Town label. The record introduced the band's light, floating aesthetic, rooted in the worldbeat lineage of Paul Simon and Lucky Dube and blending American pop melodies with African rhythmic frameworks. Although the reggae elements occasionally lacked conviction, the musicians offset this by accentuating the music's airy quality, turning a limitation into an asset.

The follow-up, Good Thoughts, appeared the next year and reflected improved studio craft along with cello contributions from fellow I-Town associate Hank Roberts on multiple tracks. While the ensemble maintained an intense schedule of touring and recording toward a subsequent release, both Redmond and Carruyo carved out space for individual projects, yielding Wishing Well and Uniit respectively. Life Is Water soon followed, after which the band embarked on its inaugural national tour, highlighted by appearances on the I-Town Roadshow that introduced the collective to numerous major markets for the first time.