Tess Roby

Tess Roby, a Montreal-based photographer as well as a classically trained musician, shapes an introspective and inquisitive strain of indie rock that draws on ambient textures together with synthesized sounds. After partnering with Italians Do It Better for her debut album Beacon in 2018, she created her own label, SSURROUNDSS, to issue her 2022 album Ideas of Space.

Born in Toronto in 1993, Roby took part in the Canadian Children's Opera Company before turning to guitars, synths, and drum machines from her father’s recording studio to develop her solo material. Her first album, Beacon, whose title references an 18th-century watch tower known as Ashurst’s Beacon in Dalton, England, was composed in 2015 after the death of her father, who originated from that region. She recorded the project with her brother, Eliot Roby, and Italians Do It Better released it in 2018. The follow-up album Ideas of Space appeared in 2022 on SSURROUNDSS, extending her sonic range by weaving folk songwriting and layered electronic production into her dreamlike approach to pop.