The Robot Ate Me

In 2002 Ryland Bouchard established the Robot Ate Me, an idiosyncratic experimental indie pop project. Its debut album, They Ate Themselves, appeared that same year on Swim Slowly and featured drifting spacy indie pop recalling Sparklehorse and the Flaming Lips. The record generated early interest within indie circles, leading Bouchard to tour the next year with support from David Greenberg, Are-Jay Hoffman, and William Haworth. The Robot Ate Me’s second album, On Vacation, arrived in 2004 and marked the artist’s final release for Swim Slowly before a 2005 reissue on 5 Rue Christine. Also in 2005 Bouchard issued his third studio album, Carousel Waltz, widely viewed as his most pop-oriented effort up to that point and highlighted by the restrained indie pop track “Bad Feelings.” The following year saw the release of his fourth album, Good World, which returned to the manic experimental approach that had defined his earlier work before Carousel Waltz.