The Laughing Chimes

Formed in southeastern Ohio during 2020, brothers Evan and Quinn Seurkamp launched the Laughing Chimes after drawing inspiration from lo-fi pop acts of the 1980s and 1990s. The pair initially tracked rough demos inside a backyard shed before relying on an after-school music program to capture drum parts. With Evan handling guitar and vocals alongside Quinn on drums, bassist Avery Bookman completed the lineup, and those earliest recordings were later assembled into the 2021 debut album In This Town. Released first in digital form, the set later appeared on vinyl through the Spanish imprint Pretty Olivia Records, showcasing bright jangle rooted in successive waves of college rock and indie pop while its sweetly melodic numbers recalled the Flying Nun roster and carried R.E.M.-informed vocal harmonies.

The group then partnered with Slumberland for the 2022 EP Zoo Avenue, issued by the label on cassette. Several standalone tracks and singles followed across subsequent years, among them the optimistic, melodic “Laurel Heights” in 2023 and 2024’s “High Beams,” which signaled a growing synth-pop direction. That shift reached full expression on the 2025 sophomore album Whispers in the Speech Machine, where the band expanded its jangly foundation with gothic, college-rock shading and more melancholic, dramatic atmospheres shaped by the brooding sensibility of Echo & the Bunnymen, the Cure, and the Chills.